Hello, I am a 13 year old looking for opinions on what I've chosen for my science fair project. My plan is to use photocells and a laser pointer to control an input to a computer, and to have the computer react via programming. I have roughly a month to do this, and I have a few questions about how I should go about this. If someone could answer even a couple of these, I would be very grateful.
-Is this project even feasible in the time frame that I have?
-Could you recommend a programming language that I could use to accomplish this? (Preferably easy-to-learn, needs to be able to use an input from an external source ie, a jack.)
-Can you give me any advice about how to go about doing this?
-Is this project even feasible in the time frame that I have?
Yes, depending on time, materials availability, funds, and experience.
-Could you recommend a programming language that I could use to accomplish this?
Anything you have, pretty much. (Assuming you mean on the computer side.) Visual Studio Express is free, for Windows. On Linux, anything supported by gcc, or perl, or python would be fine. A month to learn to program would take some dedication on your part, but if you're inclined and work your butt off, you can do it.
-Can you give me any advice about how to go about doing this?
One step at a time. Have an Arduino? Get the sensors responding to light first. There are tons of tutorials on this. Next, get your computer and Arduino talking via serial. Then, put the two together.