The Photon is an open source, inexpensive, programmable, WiFi-enabled
module for building connected projects and prototypes. Powered by an ARM
Cortex-M3 microcontroller and a Broadcom WiFi chip, the Photon is just
as happy plugged into a hobbyist's breadboard as it is into a product
rolling off of an assembly line.
While the Photon--and its accompanying cloud platform--is designed as a
ready-to-go foundation for product developers and manufacturers, it's
great for Maker projects, as you'll see in this book. You'll learn how
to get started with the free development tools, deploy your sketches
over WiFi, and build electronic projects that take advantage of the
Photon's processing power, cloud platform, and input/output pins. What's
more, the Photon is backward-compatible with its predecessor, the Spark
Core.