Talking
in Light.
A hands-on workshop where learners build a working optical modem from scratch—then make two computers carry on a real conversation across nothing but a beam of light.
Two computers, two Arduinos acting as modems, and a single beam of light between them. Each learner builds the modem, writes the chat window, and designs the protocol that makes the conversation work.
Every message a learner has ever sent crossed some invisible channel to get where it was going. This workshop makes that channel visible. We build it from nothing—an LED on one side, a light sensor on the other—and turn a flicker of light into a real conversation between two computers.
Along the way, each learner designs a communication protocol from scratch, programs an Arduino to act as a modem, and writes a desktop chat application in C#—a clean, professional language with one of the friendliest tools anywhere for building real windows. By the end, two people are typing back and forth across a beam of light they engineered themselves.
The pace is set by the room, not by a curriculum schedule. Every session lands its own win, so stopping early is never a failure—and going deeper is always on the table.
The internet is the same idea as a blinking light—just a different wire. Build the blinking light, and the rest of the stack stops being magic.
The window they build.
A simple desktop messenger, written in C#. Type on one computer and it appears on the other—carried there by light, with no network in between. Here is the same conversation seen from both ends.
Curious minds,
ready to build
something real.
The one who asks "but how?"
The learner who takes things apart and is never satisfied with "it just works"—and is ready to build the "how" from the wire up.
The future maker
The one who loves building real things and wants a taste of how working engineers actually do it—the real languages, real hardware, and real tools, exactly as the pros use them.
Ready for the next rung
A learner who has written a little code—maybe in an intro workshop—and wants to climb a layer deeper. The small-group, weekday-friendly format fits homeschoolers especially well.
Built up,
step by step.
Four sessions, each one essential—the build climbs from a single flicker of light to a full chat application. Every one earns its place, and each lands its own win.
The smallest channel
Takeaway: one bit, sent in lightOne LED, one light sensor, two boards. We send a single bit across the gap and watch it arrive— and discover that a communication channel is nothing more than something you can change and something that can sense the change.
Designing the protocol
Takeaway: an agreement two machines can keepA flicker of light means nothing until both sides agree what it means. Learners flowchart and design their own protocol—a start, a stop, the bits in between, a check that catches errors—and turn raw blinks into reliable characters.
The optical modem
Takeaway: a board that sends and receivesThe Arduino becomes a modem. It takes bytes from the computer over USB and pushes them out as light, then turns incoming light back into bytes—both directions, working at once.
The chat window
Takeaway: a real app, talking over lightEach learner builds a desktop messenger in C#—a window, a message list, a Send button—using a real visual designer. Wire it to the modem, point two rigs at each other, and hold a conversation carried on nothing but light.
Real skills,
real depth.
How to design a protocolInventing the rules two machines follow to understand each other—framing, timing, and catching errors. The hidden craft behind every wire.
What a channel really isTurning something physical—light—into information, and reading it back. The same idea under radio, fiber, and the internet itself.
Two real languagesC on the microcontroller and C# on the computer—the same tools professional engineers reach for every day.
How to build a real GUIA working desktop application—windows, buttons, events—built with the same professional visual designer real developers use.
How to see the invisibleUsing an oscilloscope and the right instruments to watch a signal that the eye can't—the real way engineers debug.
How the layers stackThat a chat app, a serial cable, and a beam of light are separate layers doing one job—and that the same message survives every swap. The shape of every real system.
The practical details.
Location
Eastern Iowa
Mount Vernon area
Schedule
Flexible
weekly cadence
Materials
All hardware
included
Cost
Modest
early pricing
Know a learner who'd love this?
This program is forming now and the group is small. Reach out with questions or to register interest— and if it helps, we're glad to meet briefly first, no commitment, so you can get a feel for it.