While the Raspberry Pi has nothing specifically to do with low-code programming we are introducing it here since we will be running Node-RED on a Raspberry Pi instead of a larger computer. Read about its form, functions, and advantages, you may be inclined to use it too.
The Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the idea to make it easier to teach and learn basic computer science in schools. Its low cost, compact size, and portability make it ideal for teaching computing concepts, like programming, networking, and use as processors in IoT and robotics projects.
The Raspberry Pi does not come with the peripherals (keyboard and monitor) required to provide inputs and view outputs. The same peripherals that work with any personal computer can be used with the Raspberry Pi.
What is unusual about the Raspberry Pi is that it does not come with any permanent storage. It uses a removable SD (Secure Digital) card, which is a non-volatile memory card that can be plugged into the SD card slot. The Raspberry Pi uses the SD card to run both the operating system and store data if required.
A Raspberry Pi can be thought of as the equivalent of a small computer and an experimental Arduino board combined. Using it as a computer, you can run the Arduino IDE on it and program your boards. You can also run other software you need for your IoT projects, such as Node-RED or even a MongoDB database on the Raspberry Pi. It is, therefore, a good alternative to a laptop or a desktop as it is cheaper and smaller. The only challenge is that it only runs a variant of Linux, so it is not as easy to use as Windows or macOS.
Using it as an experimental microprocessor, you can connect sensors directly to the Raspberry Pi and write programs (using the Python programming language) to process the data from the sensors and do almost everything you can with an Arduino board. However, Arduino boards are much cheaper than a Raspberry Pi and are available in multiple sizes. If you intend to have multiple distributed sensors, dedicating a Raspberry Pi for each one would be expensive.
If you are comfortable with Linux, an architecture including multiple Arduino boards and one Raspberry Pi as the central data processor and communicator is the most optimal.
