Programmable Logic Chips and Microcontrollers: Which language and where to learn online?
Arduino seems pretty popular for snyth “circuit bending” applications. There are plenty of examples that come with the programming application which will lead you through the basics. It uses Processing, which is a simplified version of C tailored for microcontroller applications. There’s a pretty big following for Arduino, too, so a lot of common utilities (talking over ethernet, twitter commands, etc.) already have libraries that you just plug right into your code. The thing I like about it is that it’s open source and the programmers are relatively cheap. From a practical standpoint, this means a relatively low cost of entry; $30 will get you the chip and a pre-built, tested programmer. You can buy unassembled kits (good way to learn how to solder, since they tend to avoid surface-mount components), or – since it’s all open source – you can get plans online and build the whole programmer yourself. Two other options I can think of are PIC and BASIC Stamp. BASIC Stamp runs on – you gue
I recommend the AVR family. Powerful, cheap, popular, widespread, lots of online resources. In that case, yes, the most commonly used and supported language is C. But the beginners tutorials and resources for learning to program microprocessors in C are rubbish, unless you already know C, in which case they’re still rubbish, but you can fill in the holes yourself while being talked to as if a child. I gave up and found it was easier to learn C from the endless good resources about learning to program computers in C, (teaching beginners to successfully program computers is a MUCH more hammered out path), and then making the necessary adjustments to the knowledge to write for microprocessors. It sucked not being able to take a direct route to learning how to program micro-controllers, but as a side benefit to the indirect route, you learn how to make your own software for computers too 🙂 But over and over, when trying to take the direct route, tutorials expounded the obvious in great d
