What Is MicroBlocks

MicroBlocks is a free, Scratch-like blocks programming language for learning physical computing with educational microcontroller boards such as the micro:bit, Adafruit Circuit Playground Express, and many others.

MicroBlocks allows complete beginners to get started quickly, from children as young as nine years old up through adults of all ages.
However, MicroBlocks isn't just for beginners. It can be used to learn electronics, instrument science experiments, automate your home, and much more.

What makes MicroBlocks different?

While there are other blocks languages for microcontrollers, what really sets MicroBlocks apart is its combination of live programming and autonomous operation. Other blocks languages support one or the other of those features but not both.

Live Programming

MicroBlocks is a live environment. Click on a block and it runs immediately, right on the board. Try out commands. See and graph sensor values in real time. No more waiting for code to compile and download.

Autonomous Operation

MicroBlocks downloads your code as you write it. When you like what your program does, just unplug the board and you're good to go. Make a game, a fitness app, or light-up clothing that goes wherever you do.

Parallelism

Want to display an animation while controlling a motor? No problem! MicroBlocks lets you write separate scripts for each task and run them at the same time. Your code is simpler to write and easier to understand.

Portability

MicroBlocks runs on many different boards, but your scripts are portable. Buttons, sensors, and display blocks behave the same on all boards with the relevant hardware. MicroBlocks even simulates the micro:bit 5x5 LED display on TFT displays.

Read back

With MicroBlocks, the board acts like a memory stick. No need for files; just plug in a board and the scripts reappear. Hand your board to a friend so they can explore your code. They might even add a cool new feature!

How does MicroBlocks work?

The MicroBlocks system has three components:

A blocks editor, which runs on a host computer during code development
Virtual machine, which runs on the microcontroller and executes the user's code
A communication system that updates the code on the board as the user edits scripts.

The blocks editor allows the user to create and edit blocks-based code. It also manages MicroBlocks libraries that provide additional functionality. Some libraries support sensors or output devices such as servos and NeoPixels. Others provide APIs for working with text, lists, and music. Libraries are written in MicroBlocks and can be explored, modified, and extended by users.

Like MicroPython, MicroBlocks code is compiled into bytecodes that are executed by a virtual machine running on the microcontroller. Bytecodes are low-level instructions similar to machine code, but independent of any particular processor architecture. This design makes it easy for MicroBlocks to support many different 32-bit microcontrollers. In fact, the MicroBlocks virtual machine is not restricted to microcontrollers; it also runs on Linux computers such as the Raspberry Pi.

If you'd like to learn more about bytecodes, see the virtual machine page on the wiki. If you enable "advanced blocks", you can use the right-click menu on a script to view the instructions and bytecodes generated by your own scripts. That's a great way to gain a deeper understanding of how computers execute code.

The communication system sends the bytecodes for scripts to the virtual machine and updates those bytecodes as the user edits scripts. Since scripts are recompiled and sent to the virtual machine incrementally, the code is ready to go immediately. That makes it easy to test and improve your code.

The communication system also sends commands to start scripts and processes messages from the microcontroller that indicate when scripts stop or return results. That allows the editor to provide graphical feedback about what is happening on the microcontroller.

A key part of learning about sensors is seeing how they respond in real time. For example, how does acceleration change as you toss and catch the micro:bit? The communication system allows sensor values and computation result to be displayed in a little "talk bubble". It also supports graphing sensor data in real time. Graphing is a powerful tool for building intuition about real-time physical and electrical processes.

Privacy Statement

MicroBlocks takes privacy seriously. The MicroBlocks application does not request, collect, or store any personal information about our users. The MicroBlocks website does not use cookies, and MicroBlocks projects created by users are not stored on our servers.