It is impossible not to hear about the Internet of Things (IoT), which is starting to enter into our homes and our lives, together with the necessity of consuming and controlling a huge amount of data every day. We all carry an internet-connected smartphone and we are able to instantly find and connect with people around the world.

If we are able to connect and discuss with people around the world, why not control our houses, our cars, and our offices from our smartphone? This is where the IoT comes into the picture and lets us connect almost any object to the internet.

Currently, there are a few chips that are capable of internet connection in the market but one little fellow has attracted developers' attention because of its features and price.

This chip is ESP8266, a low-cost TCP/IP and a Wi-Fi enabled microcontroller developed by EspressIf Systems, a company located in Shanghai, and we will find out more about it in this book. In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Installing Arduino IDE
• Configuring the Arduino IDE for ESP8266
• Discovering ESP8266
• Connecting your ESP to a Wi-Fi network