Concise advice (from another venue)
(This concerns the building of digital electronics via a couple contenders aimed at the DIY crowd.)
Loved this little quip:
Then again, BASIC is well supported, I'm not sure how powerful it is (and we could debate what powerful *is*)
[Punctuation matters.]
On 03/15/2013 01:38 PM, Doug wrote:
Whereas, the C language would drive a Saint! Programmers swear by
it--Unix and Linux is written in it, and probably Windows, but
I can virually guarantee you'll swear AT it!
Guess I'm a programmer, then. Like anything else, it takes getting
used to, but it is powerful and well supported. Then again, BASIC is
well supported, I'm not sure how powerful it is (and we could debate
what powerful *is*)
Main thing is to find a platform (hardware wise) that does what you
think you want to do, is well supported, is inexpensive enough that
you don't mind dedicating one of these per project, and you can
understand and like.
Choice of processor is not really relevant in a way, although you will
find the choice of processor driving capabilities.
Maybe so. If there is little need for all the new peripherals on
new chips with 8 or 15 or 32 bits, there's less reason to learn C.
It's a choice, depending on what you want to do, and how you want to
do it. I'd look to see what others do with the hardware and see if
that kind of complexity (whatever it is) makes sense to you.
There's one low cost "development tool" microcontroller board called
UBW, ( USB Bit Whacker), you might look at. Based on Microchip
parts that cost $4.50, full boards are $25 each and boots
itself without a programmer tool to buy.
And the Arduino is similarly priced, to offer an alternative. (I
personally don't like the PIC architecture). One thing to consider is
daughter boards which plug into the main board and allow you to expand
the system. Buy one of them and the main board, and you may have all
of your hardware design done. Those boards may come with programming.
However, there are proponents of each chip family, but if you go ahead
and see what those things *do*, (and don't be reluctant to ask people
on the discussion lists about their projects), you'll get a better
idea of what you want.
Har...