The BBC micro:bit Coded by Microsoft Touch Develop

The chance to influence the lives of a million children comes once in a generation. With the partnership between the BBC and several technology companies, a small device, the BBC micro:bit will be given to a million children in the UK in 2016. Moreover, using the micro:bit will be part of the curriculum. This demo describes the BBC micro:bit together with its software platform, based on Microsoft's Touch Develop. The demo will illustrate the architecture of the micro:bit and the software engineering hurdles that had to be overcome to enable it to be used by children. Evaluation of studies of the software platform are available and early anecdotal evidence of the hardware. A video about the micro:bit is available at aka.ms/bbcmicrobit.