A few comments from a novice/student.
J^3
Posts: 121
Good Morning all,
First of all I would like to say a big thank you to all involved with Prop-Gcc and SIDE. Being a student who actively promotes the use of the propeller along with other micros (AVR, MSP430) I am very excited about what is happening here. Currently at my school the micro of choice by students is the AVR which is a great device and a lot of fun to work with. Saying that, I have also found projects that are just straight out easier to do with the prop due to the OBEX and having 8 individual cogs to work with. The biggest challenge I have with getting the prop accepted by the IEEE club on campus is that up until now I haven't been able to program the device in C for free, which is a big deal for students. Being able to program the prop in C and having a free IDE to go along with that is going to change everything. I am sure you are all aware of that.
When I first started working with micros, a mere 3 and half years ago, I started working with the BS2 as many others did on this forum. I had never seen a company that made learning something so easy and comprehensive. In my humble opinion this is what SIDE needs. I am sure it is in the works, but the sooner the better. Below I have listed some topics that would be very helpful to a novice such as myself for learning to use the prop with SIDE.
1. A detailed explanation of how the prop is configured in SIDE and what I as a user can change and how to do that.
2. Cogs. How are cogs started/stoped in C and what can be loaded into them.
3. What previously written code can I use? One of the great things about the prop is the OBEX. Can I use the SD card object on the OBEX, etc..
4. A workshop is on order!!
If these things are already available can they be compiled into a single document and posted to the sticky above. I understand that the work being done is probably a side project - no pun intended - and I appreciate that. Some of us still require a little "hand holding" and these things would be greatly appreciated. They would also allow me to take what I have learned and share with others on campus.
If these things are available, could someone post links to them and I would be willing to start on this document as a summer project. Of course I would need it to be reviewed by a more competent individual before being posted, but I would like to help some how. Most of all I would like to say thank you and I am eager to start programming the prop in C!
By no means am I expecting someone to do my homework for me, I just need to be pointed in the right direction.
Justin.
First of all I would like to say a big thank you to all involved with Prop-Gcc and SIDE. Being a student who actively promotes the use of the propeller along with other micros (AVR, MSP430) I am very excited about what is happening here. Currently at my school the micro of choice by students is the AVR which is a great device and a lot of fun to work with. Saying that, I have also found projects that are just straight out easier to do with the prop due to the OBEX and having 8 individual cogs to work with. The biggest challenge I have with getting the prop accepted by the IEEE club on campus is that up until now I haven't been able to program the device in C for free, which is a big deal for students. Being able to program the prop in C and having a free IDE to go along with that is going to change everything. I am sure you are all aware of that.
When I first started working with micros, a mere 3 and half years ago, I started working with the BS2 as many others did on this forum. I had never seen a company that made learning something so easy and comprehensive. In my humble opinion this is what SIDE needs. I am sure it is in the works, but the sooner the better. Below I have listed some topics that would be very helpful to a novice such as myself for learning to use the prop with SIDE.
1. A detailed explanation of how the prop is configured in SIDE and what I as a user can change and how to do that.
2. Cogs. How are cogs started/stoped in C and what can be loaded into them.
3. What previously written code can I use? One of the great things about the prop is the OBEX. Can I use the SD card object on the OBEX, etc..
4. A workshop is on order!!
If these things are already available can they be compiled into a single document and posted to the sticky above. I understand that the work being done is probably a side project - no pun intended - and I appreciate that. Some of us still require a little "hand holding" and these things would be greatly appreciated. They would also allow me to take what I have learned and share with others on campus.
If these things are available, could someone post links to them and I would be willing to start on this document as a summer project. Of course I would need it to be reviewed by a more competent individual before being posted, but I would like to help some how. Most of all I would like to say thank you and I am eager to start programming the prop in C!
By no means am I expecting someone to do my homework for me, I just need to be pointed in the right direction.
Justin.
Comments
These things are a work in progress. We are feverishly working on them so we can make a beta release.
There are many facets to this work. I'm responsible for all the Propeller-GCC default library docs.
Others are working on documentation that makes some of the more difficult concepts easier to grasp.
I'm adding a SimpleIDE help window that will be able to point to various documentation available for Propeller GCC.
Right now it is simply a web browser that points to library code, but it can easily allow selecting categories.
The "help end game" for SimpleIDE will be to use Qt Assistant which is like M$FT help, but that takes more work.
Here is a snapshot example of the Help Window as it is today (the refresh button will not be there).
I'll probably add a drop-down combo box for the documentation set address.
Documentation makes me sleepy.
Thanks for your very timely note!
--Steve