FoamyGuy/Foamyguy_CircuitPython_2021.md

## Foamyguy_CircuitPython_2021.md

      
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              Foamyguy_CircuitPython_2021.md
            
          
    #CircuitPython2021
Foamyguy - Circuit Python 2021
2020 was a notable year for many reasons, most were not so great. But a piece of positivity out of the year that I will always cherish is that I spent the full year involved in this project. Im grateful for the friends that I've met and the community I've become a part of. The weekly CircuitPython meetings and Show & Tell programs were/are some of the highlights that I look forward to every week.
Last year one thing I hoped for in my year-end post was to improve documentation and sample code where possible. There will always be room to for further improvement, but I feel like we did a great job this year. Many of my own contributions were around documentation and examples. Partially because it seemed like a good place to start without having much experience with Circuit Python and Microcontrollers, but also importantly because I am passionate about the idea of using Circuit Python to teach people about programming and electronics. Good documentation and examples go a long way toward making new folks have positive first experiences.
In 2021 I'd like to dive into displayio further. I think I am drawn to displayio because drawing things on a screen makes these devices feel and behave even more like "little computer" or smartphones, which was what I had the most experience with before getting interested in CircuitPython.
In no particular order here are some of the displayio related things I hope to achieve this year:


I'd like to create more UI widgets. Checkboxes, dropdowns, List and Grid layout groups, and TextInputs are the ones that come to mind most immediately, but I'm sure there are others that would be good too.


I will polish up my display layouts library and get it formally released and added to the Circuit Python community bundle. Along with this I will enhance the documentation for the project to try to make more clear what the module does and how it helps organization within displayio based apps.


Make more guides! I published 3 guides in the Adafruit Learning system in 2020. I'd like to aim to create at least that many (or more) this year. Guides are a fantastic resource for new users, but also I find myself referring back to them all the time as well even though I have more experience now.


I'd like to "peel back the curtain" a bit and try to start getting a better understanding of the displayio internals. For this I will need to make a more concerted effort to learn to read C and be less scared of pointers.


One project that I hope to create this year a "console game" thats made with displayio and runs on PC / Raspberry Pi, and uses a PyGamer or simalar device as the controller. Extra bonus points for using the screen on the PyGamer to show some of the game information kind of like Nintendo's Wii U console.


Thank you to everyone for making this community so welcoming and enjoyable to be a part of. I am wishing everyone a very happy new year!