So far, our precious data has only been sent and received through physical wired connections, but in this chapter, we'll be taking a look at how to use some of the wireless abilities of the Pico W to do some really cool things. Things like connecting the Pico to the internet and controlling it with a computer over a Wi-Fi connection.

Now, this world of microcontrollers and wireless connectivity may be a little bit different from what you're expecting. We aren't going to be able to watch YouTube videos on the Pico at all. Not even close, this hardware will not let us. Instead, we can use wireless networks and the internet to send or receive text-based data. Think more along the lines of using the Pico to make a smart Wi-Fi controlled light or a wireless mailbox sensor, or connecting the Pico to the internet to get real-time coordinates of the International Space Station.

This might sound a little difficult, and we have definitely moved from beginner-level skills to more intermediate, but thanks to the use of libraries, even these really cool complex tasks are easy to do on our Pico. It's amazing how much we can do with so little and simple code.

This chapter is like one big video that we've split up into smaller ones. Each video builds on the last one as stepping stones to reach an end goal. We'll start by connecting the Pico to a local wireless network, then we'll use the internet to connect to some sites and pull useful data from specific websites. After that, we'll learn how to host a page on the Pico itself, which we can interact with through a phone or a computer to control the Pico. Finally, we'll learn how to set up a Wi-Fi access point on the Pico itself, which we can use to host that page.

All you'll need to follow along with this chapter is a Pico W or WH and a Wi-Fi network to connect to, which can be your home network or even a mobile hotspot from your phone. Let's get into it!