ATTN: Programers!

[chad]

HI guys and gals, I want to try to learn to program. More specifically C. I want to be able to program embedded processors some day. Do any of you have any suggestions. I can sort of read some c and get a jest of what is going on but I need something that will help with the basics and work my way from there.

I realize that this is a long term goal and I am not just going to read a book and be a programmer but you all started some ware any recommendations?

thanks

chad

[DMills]

"C - How to program" by Deitel & Deitel is often figured to be a good first book on C, followed by "The C programming language" by Keringham and Richie, which is really THE C book (But probably less suitable for beginners).

The "C Standard Library" is worth owning as a reference but is in some ways less useful on an embedded platform as they tend to have rather cut down libraries.

Regards, Dan.

[dave]

Hey Chad,

If you want to learn C and embedded programming, get this book:

Embedded C Programming and the Atmel AVR by Richard H. Barnett

Its a good book well worth the casola..

[dnar]

I recommend getting an Arduino board to start playing immediately. A nice little platform with Atmel MCU, USB bootloader, standard expansion headers using GNU C and libraries based on Processing language. The IDE is available for Win/Linux/Mac. PC software is a free download, requires Java. Some of the libraries are written in C++ (Object Oriented).

http://www.arduino.cc/

The boards are pretty cheap. Find your nearest supplier here: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Buy

The following books will help you ease you in to C while working with the Arduino board.

http://www.littlebirdelectronics.com...h-Arduino.html

http://www.littlebirdelectronics.com...l-Arduino.html

Otherwise go to your local technical bookstore, the amount of books on C/C++/C# are endless. Many are advanced however.

[chad]

Thanks guys!

Atmel processors are about the only micro that I don't have. I have many pics, propellers, arms, xmos, rabbits, Sx and a couple of others. I just can't program any of them.

I should get a atmel programmer / dev kit and add it to my micro collection.

I am starting a books to get list. Thanks for the suggestions.

Chad

[mixedgas]

screw C, buy MCS basic for the AVR and have your program working in hours.

Steve

[shrad]

hmm I just can't agree, being a programmer myself

try several languages, they are all based on assembly and are only different appreciations of the embedded world, with their very each possibilities and limitations, and you'll find the one which is "made for you" (plus most of the common MCUs are based on known hardware for which you'll find free quality tools easily)

what I would recommend thus, if you really want to learn the guts of these things and manage to get accurate timings for signal generation and the like, is getting started with 8-bit PIC assembly

only 120-ish instructions, really simple (you use perhaps 30 instructions in a regular basis) and you can master timers and counters in a week

if you want to be able to get some basic scripting done and you have no need of nanosecond-precise timings, then you can just have a look at some direct programming languages, where you write your script and directly generate the binaries

I prefer the C language, as you can always place some inline assembly to gain precision (although I know some basic languages allow this too)

[dave]

Haha, I program most of my AVR stuff in assembler.. I like small code size

screw C, buy MCS basic for the AVR and have your program working in hours.

Steve

[chad]

Yuck, assembly. I don't need timing for anything that tight. And as for code size I would rather just spend the extra buck on a bigger chip and do it in something a little higher level

Chad

[polishedball]

Yuck, assembly. I don't need timing for anything that tight. And as for code size I would rather just spend the extra buck on a bigger chip and do it in something a little higher level

Chad

Assembly runs so clean and nice, todays languages allow for such sloppy code it is a shame.

If you want to check out a few different ways to see "C" in use download the MAME source code and check it out. http://mamedev.org/