Esp8226

ESP8226 , Witty, NodeMCU and WEMOS D1 R1 modules

eBay suggested the ESP01 and these modules using the ESP8226.

and

These were very reasonably priced and the ESP8226 chip has a later version more suited to HTTPS.

see https://www.schatenseite.de/en/2016/04/22/esp8266-witty-cloud-module/

https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp8266-pinout-reference-gpios/ - Useful Guides

ESP and Thorny

https://thonny.org/ provides a way to use Python and can flash these modules, by selecting the interpreter.

NOTE: I found I had to specify the size of the serial ROM to 4MB , Otherwise the little blue light flashed really fast and the REPL

Thorny comes with the Raspberry Pi.

ESP and Arduino

The Arduino IDE can be used. It has loads of useful examples to learn about simple IOT using HTTP and other protocols.

ESP and ulisp

http://www.ulisp.com/ can be uploaded.

Bigger pictures

https://protosupplies.com/product/esp8266-witty-cloud-esp-12f-wifi-module/

https://yoursunny.com/t/2016/WittyCloud-first/ - interesting little module.

https://jpralves.net/post/2016/11/15/esp8266.html - loads of useful information

https://github.com/tasmota/docs/blob/master/docs/devices/Wemos-D1-R1-%26-R2.md - looks intersting

My nodemcu module can overload the USB socket.