newbie help

Mesafanboy

Can anyone tell me how hard it is to learn the programming language(from a novice point of view)? I've got a lot of hardware background, but almost zero on the programing end. I touched a little machine code in school, but that was years ago.

Thanks

ElectricAye

If you're asking how hard it is to learn Spin and work with the Propeller, I would strongly recommend starting out with the Basic Stamp, utilize all of the excellent educational packs that are geared for that, learn the basic programming associated with the stamp first. I think if you tried to learn Spin first thing, you might find yourself a little bit lost. The Propeller is not nearly as old as the Basic Stamp, and the documentation is therefore less consolidated. By the time you make your way through the Basic Stamp educational kits, etc. perhaps Parallax will have better educational materials put together for the Spin and there will be some better documentation for the objects, etc. that are associated with the Propeller. I had a little Fortran a gazillion years ago and learned a little about the Basic Stamp 7 years ago when I was stuck in a hospital for 2 months with nothing to do. Nine weeks ago I jumped into this Propeller thing and started learning Spin, but there's so much of the basic stuff I simply forgot or never learned from 7 years ago. Also what's bad about Spin objects at this point is that a lot of the old pros that are involved with it have mixed in assembly language to make things run faster and smoother, but assembly language is a whole 'nother ball game. So if you jump into the Propeller scene, you might find yourself fighting on two fronts at once - the Spin code and the assembly code.

Do as I say not as I do: Start with the basics and work toward the propeller.

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It might be the Information Age but the Eon of Ignorance has yet to end.

Mike Green

Spin should not be that hard to learn, but, as ElectricAye mentioned, there's nowhere near as much educational material that leads you gently by the hand as there is for the Stamp. Start with the Propeller Education Kit (PEK) tutorials if you still want to try the Propeller. If you don't want to do the wiring and want a neater package, get the breadboard and PE Kit Project Parts kit and use the USB Propstick as a ready made Propeller system. You'll eventually want a 5V regulator for the Propstick since some of the PEK tutorials may need 5V, but the Propstick will work off a 9V battery all by itself and can supply a limited amount of 3.3V power for other parts.

Aleks

When I first started about a year ago I started on the basic stamp. One of the easiest things in the world to pick up. However, with the simplicity came a lack of power, so I switched over to the Javelin Stamp pretty quickly. This took me the longest to learn, but was pretty powerful (in comparison). Still, didn't have enough power so I got my hands on the Spin Stamp. Definitely the most powerful, and only took about a week to pick up and start entry level programming without a tutorial (and working). Also, the cheapest of the stamp modules. If you want a better idea of what you'll be getting into before you start, I advise downloading the Basic Stamp IDE, the Javelin Stamp IDE, and the Propeller IDE (all free from parallax). Then download the Propeller, Basic, and Javelin manuals. This way, for absolutely nothing other than a little download time, you can get a brief, introductory tutorial to programming and get to try putting code into the IDE. You can try modifying the code and using the compile feature to test for programming format errors too. At least it will introduce you to the languages and help you understand what you would be doing with each module so you can make the final decision yourself, with a little more education

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~Some men see things as they are and ask "why?"
I dream of things that never were and ask "why not?"~