For your first project, start small using one of the built-in examples in the Arduino IDE. The most beginner-friendly sketch here is the "Blink," which simply makes an LED blink.

Literally, ATtiny85 is a scaled-down version of the Atmega microcontroller on Arduino boards with just a few I/Os (five usable pins) that can listen to or talk to most sensors and transducers.

Maybe you can do better. Maybe it's time to check out Arduino. The word Arduino may conjure up an image of a wide-mouthed geek huddled over a work table, but its simplicity makes it an entry-point ...