Open Softwear is a great new resource for those of you interested in getting started with the Arduino and soft circuits. Written by authors T. Olsson, D. Gaetano, J. Odhner, and S. Wiklund, Open Softwear is an illustrated book aiming at students and professionals trying to enter the field of physical computing from the softwear perspective.

The book is divided into three chapters beginning with an overview of the Arduino, LEDs, LDRs, resistors, and other electronic components. Chapter one also introduces you to the programming environment.

Analog Zipper

The second chapter is filled with nicely illustrated tutorials that will get you started with physical prototyping. The tutorials start you off with the basics of programming a soft switch and lead you to a great tutorial on how to create and program an analog zipper.

The book concludes with a chapter on how to write code to for the Arduino.

The best part — it's free! Download Open Softwear here