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Hours to completion and level of difficulty for all parallax books is info available? — Parallax Forums

Hours to completion and level of difficulty for all parallax books is info available?

CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
edited 2013-09-26 10:33 in General Discussion
Hello.

I have "What's a microcontroller" book. It says: Hours to completion: 40, Levels of Difficulty (out of 10): 3

But what about some other books? not all provide info about hours/difficulty. Say this one?

http://www.parallax.com/product/122-32305

Comments

  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-09-25 01:48
    That particular Propeller text is listed as 'university level', so I suspect that Parallax would let the university teacher determine how much time and at what level to introduce it.

    'What's a Microcontroller?' is geared toward the general public and younger users... the whole series had ratings for each text's level of difficulty and level of hours to complete.

    Some texts, like the Propeller Manual ver 1.2 are entirely reference and obiously returned to many times as you acquire more knowledge... so such ratings really don't apply at all.

    Authors do indicate something as well. Andy Lindsay has written some of the best instructive materials for Parallax. You may find others that become your personal favorites. He happens to be mine.
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2013-09-25 02:02
    Interesting, "What's a microcontroller" says it is 3 from 10. On the website there are 5, 7, 8 level books. But where's other levels, especially #1 ?
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-09-25 02:31
    I really dunno. Parallax has revised it's website at least twice since "What's a Microcontroller?" first came out and has gone through many product revisions.

    Several of the BasicStamp course texts have been retired.

    And so...
    Do you want a complete series of course materials for the BasicStamp with ratings beginning at #1? (I am not sure that book was ever written. WAM seems to be the first book in the series.)

    Or
    Do you want a complete series of course material for the Propeller 1 (possibly without ratings)?

    I guess I am just trying to say that I believe that ratings system is no longer actively maintained. Books that were part of it, mention it.
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2013-09-25 03:19
    I want a series of books for beginner (college student) to start with. Basic stamp will be better I think.
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2013-09-25 06:14
    I think (maybe) the only books that had those ratings were the ones in the "Stamps in Class" series. I couldn't find this information on the new Parallax web site, but here is a link to the old (classic) web site page for a "Stamps in Class" flow chart, which lists the "difficulty" and "hours to complete" for each book in that series.

    Stamps in Class Program Flowchart
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-09-25 09:14
    Historically, the BasicStamp2 had a huge following on the internet with a lot of independent websites writing material. Also, Nuts and Volt's magazine regularly ran an article about how to use the BasicStamp2 as Parallax was a major ad buyer and kept the back page reserved for Parallax for many years.

    Sadly, when the Propeller came along many of the resources had begun to become diverted. And many of the websites eventuallyshut down as they were supported independently. But quite a bit of excellent introductory material was written independently.

    The "Stamps in Class" series might be useful, but I think the reprints of the Nuts and Volt's articles are equaly important.

    Abe Books specializes in 'out of print' books and may help you die up some of the oldies, but goodies that are no longer in print.

    Here is a link to the results of a search under the keywords "Basic Stamp" and another for "Basic Microcontroller". You might find some good reading, but the 2nd booksellers generally dislike stocking technology books as they become out of date very rapidly.. mostly they just toss them in a bin to become recycled paper as cramped storage and slow inventory turn over prevent keeping everything.


    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=Basic+Stamp&sts=t&x=0&y=0

    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=basic+microcontroller&sts=t&x=0&y=0

    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=basic+microcontroller&sts=t&x=0&y=0
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2013-09-25 09:40
    Please note original inquiry:
    Hours to completion and level of difficulty for all parallax books is info availa



    Actually, as an introduction to how micro-controllers are used and interfaced to the real world, I think the Stamps in Class series of books are still hard to beat. A lot of them are no longer in print, but you can still get the pdf versions.
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2013-09-25 17:27
    :smile::smile:
    younger users
    Wow, that makes us old folk feel as if we are lacking something!!!!!!
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-09-25 23:03
    Come on now... a 40 hours course in anything is geared towards less patient youth.

    Try doing your own tax returns.
  • GenetixGenetix Posts: 1,754
    edited 2013-09-26 10:13
    Loopy Byteloose wrote: »
    Historically, the BasicStamp2 had a huge following on the internet with a lot of independent websites writing material. Also, Nuts and Volt's magazine regularly ran an article about how to use the BasicStamp2 as Parallax was a major ad buyer and kept the back page reserved for Parallax for many years.

    Sadly, when the Propeller came along many of the resources had begun to become diverted. And many of the websites eventuallyshut down as they were supported independently. But quite a bit of excellent introductory material was written independently.

    The "Stamps in Class" series might be useful, but I think the reprints of the Nuts and Volt's articles are equaly important.

    Abe Books specializes in 'out of print' books and may help you die up some of the oldies, but goodies that are no longer in print.

    Here is a link to the results of a search under the keywords "Basic Stamp" and another for "Basic Microcontroller". You might find some good reading, but the 2nd booksellers generally dislike stocking technology books as they become out of date very rapidly.. mostly they just toss them in a bin to become recycled paper as cramped storage and slow inventory turn over prevent keeping everything.


    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=Basic+Stamp&sts=t&x=0&y=0

    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=basic+microcontroller&sts=t&x=0&y=0

    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=basic+microcontroller&sts=t&x=0&y=0

    I saw some EE university students working with Process Control yesterday. Funny considering several people have mentioned the Ardunio. You should have seen the expression of a speaker's face when she asked if anyone had heard of the 8051.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-09-26 10:33
    The OP originally asked if there was a Level #1 text available. Parallax never published one, just tried to indicate that some knowledge of electronics was needed by starting with Level #3.

    If you really are looking for the barest of beginnings, there are some courses available. The one I keep posting a link to is NEETS. It is a bit old, but the truth is that after about 1975, people got so busy writing for integrated chips that instruction in basic electronics seemed to get ignored.

    Some of the best course around are before 1975 and written for Ham Radio operators. An old ARRL Handbook of that era is excellent.

    Anyway, here is the link to NEETS. And another for ARRL courses. Some of these may be classes in your local community.


    http://www.phy.davidson.edu/instrumentation/NEETS.htm

    http://www.arrl.org/courses-training
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