The Arduino dilemma

[Mikebits]

This is from the Atmel University page. http://www.atmel.com/About/corporate/University/do-it-yourself.aspx

So you wanna learn how to work with AVRs?

Today, with simple boards like Arduino, it's easier than ever to dive into the world of electronics. But what if you'd like to delve a little deeper into the world of microcontrollers? What if you'd like to strip down to the bare naked electronic essentials and get hands on with the chip that makes the maker movement possible?

Nope, we're not going to bore you to death with long, complex datasheets... instead, we're going to point you to this awesome instructable by Nathan, which explains AVR in just a few easy steps.

This instructable will take you from the basics of bitwise manipulation to making good use of standard AVR peripherals such as timers, interrupts & serial communications. It will also cover common extras such as Infrared remote controls, radio communications and more.

So jump in, skip what you know and brush up on what you need!

Create the breadboard projects presented and learn new things! Oh, and don't forget to let us know how you're getting on, either by sending us pics/descriptions of your own projects or reaching out to us via **broken link removed**/Twitter.

Find the Instructable here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/A-complete-starter-guide-to-AVRs

Or download it directly in PDF format here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/A-complete-starter-guide-to-AVRs/?download=pdf

Introduction to Arduino

Some people think of the entire Arduino board as a microcontroller, but it’s actually not. The Arduino board actually is a specially designed circuit board for programming and prototyping with Atmel microcontrollers. The nice thing about it is it’s relatively cheap, plugs straight into a computer's USB port, and it is dead-simple to setup and use, making it perfect for beginners.

Check out the following ‘How To’ guide by Instructables techRandy Sarafan, and learn the basics of microcontroller programming in no time!

Click here for the Instructable itself:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Intro-to-Arduino/step2/Arduino-Uno-Features/

 

[3v0]

But you still are stuck with a boot loader and no ICD. If you are going to program uC's learning to read datasheets is a good thing.

 

[MrAl]

Hi,

Yeah, the one thing i liked about the PIC's MPLAP is that it was also a *simulator* so that you can run the simulated code and check for timing errors as well as general programming correctness. If you had a routine that had to be exactly 124us you could reset the clock counter when the program was about to call that routine and when the routine returned you could check the clock again. If the clock was 124us then you know you it right...if not then you know you have to correct the timing. I used this feature time and time again to create code sections that had equal time delays so that no matter what section you called it would always take the same exact amount of time to execute, which meant no timer generated interrupt needed in many cases.