There are two great products out right now to help you begin tinkering with running your software in conjunction with hardware devices. And... its never been easier!
The first is the Arduino boards. The newer boards offer a USB interface to upload your application and communicate back and forth with the device. There are a variety of sensors, GPS, wireless, ethernet, and other boards/cards/chips such that you can design exactly what you need.
Out of the Box ready Arduino boards run from $20-$40. The sensors and LEDs run less than $2.00 but the networking/communication products run $40+.
Secondly, is TI's Launchpad kit. The kit contains a couple of their value line chips and an evaluation board with some built-in LEDs and buttons. Like the Arduino, the board uses USB. Once programmed, these chips can be moved to a permanent board with whatever accessories you choose. This kit is a mere $4.30. Yes four dollars and thirty cents. However, the kit is currently on backorder through August.
Both platforms also have free software and the languages are a flavor of C++ with much of the complexity hidden behind pre-written modules.
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