Arduino users point out that it is simple to connect external sensors to the board, and the example codes out there make it easy to get started quickly.

Review: Environmental Monitoring With Arduino I love to read through project suggestions and examples for the Arduino and other platforms. It keeps my mind constantly running with ideas for projects.

Image by bigthink Via The Hardware Hacker's Introduction to Microcontrollers, Part One: Anatomy of an Arduino on fear-of-lightning.wonderhowto.com.