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Interesting column from Electronic Design — Parallax Forums

Interesting column from Electronic Design

frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
edited 2014-06-28 13:03 in General Discussion
Interesting column with a familiar name in it.

http://electronicdesign.com/blog/make-more-electronics-diy-business-booming

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2014-06-23 16:51
    I thought the last sentence in the article was ... um ... interesting. I won't repeat it here, but it hints at a "void" that I'm sure Parallax has filled in spades over the years.

    -Phil
  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
    edited 2014-06-23 23:29
    yep, aside from Gordon McComb's book listed, I was curious as to how many of the forum dwellers would ping on that last line.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-06-24 02:31
    The last line is silly.

    There are millions of Ardinos out there being programmed in C++. Even total beginners seem to get along with it just fine. All the Arduino documentation and books carefully sidestep the arcane and complex parts of C/C++. They don't even mention that the language is actually C++. (Hmm.. so I guess the book the article calls for already exists)

    Then of course doing anything complex in a micro-controller is going to be, well, complex, no matter what language it's written in. Using C won't make it any harder.

    Of course as of now one can program micro-controllers in Python, Javascript, Spin, C#, BASIC etc. I guess there are books about some of those and opportunities for authors for more.
  • blittledblittled Posts: 681
    edited 2014-06-24 08:57
    I think the author is a bit narrow minded. He stereotypes micro controllers to be C only and as Heater says there are plenty of micro controllers that use other languages and if you look hard enough you can find books on them. The author probably only looked at the books his publisher produces.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2014-06-27 19:39
    Really, what he's saying is that its a chicken and egg problem with programming. One has to pretty much be an expert in most of the tools in order to get started.

    There are very few tools which allow one to "just start programming", and even those have a significant set-up curve.

    Probably the most difficult aspect is, experienced folks don't always remember what it was like to be inexperienced. So out of all the many materials available, there are few that meet what an individual new person needs.

    There's really no substitute for having a friend handy that can just plain show one the ropes, and get one started.
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    edited 2014-06-28 12:41
    Well, the whole theory behind BASIC as it was originally conceived -- and I think Spin -- was that you don't have to be an expert in order to get started. Two whole generations know the joke when someone posts 10 PRINT "TOPIC SUCKS" 20 GOTO 10.
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2014-06-28 13:03
    He appears to have been part of the past generation, (my father's generation) who were participants in the first generation of "Makers". Analog was common, digital new frointer.

    My father has ZERO interest in learning C programming. He's interested in using the current technology to do the things he's dreamed about being able to do for the last 30 years.
    He wants things that are simple to use and "just work." Systems like BASIC STAMP are perfect for him.

    It's the current generation of "Makers" who instist on the complication of systems and lanaguages like C.

    Strangely, the older I get, the more I like the concepts of "simple", and "just work". :)
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