On Sun, 31 May 2020 07:47:34 +0000, Jan Panteltje wrote:

> Kids try programing some Microchip PIC chips if you want to learn how to
> control things, those are 2 1/2 $ upwards.
> Learn some basic electronics.
>
Makes sense.

Some years back I did something similar with the Parallax Basic STAMP,
a tiny SMD board that fit a 24 pin chip socket. Worked well, and had a
very good IDE for programming and debugging, an decent integer BASIC (if
that's not a complete oxymoron) but wasn't cheap.

Its still around, but largely replaced by the PICAXE chips, which are
really cheap-as (all PICAXE chips cost less than 10 Euros) and range in
size from 8pin DIP chips to (IIRC) 40 pin DIP packages. They all contain
a Pic MPU, RAM and EEPROM anf accept binary uploads over a serill port,
so the compile/load/test cycle is fast and easy to manage. They are
designed to be programmed in a somewhat crap integer BASIC. You use your
favourite editor to write programs and an decent compiler/loader to sling
the result into the PICAXE chip. The chip contains a lot of built-in
stuff, such as servo drivers, A->D and D->A converters that are really
useful for real-world applications.

For really small projects. e.g. robots or small model aircraft where the
controller must weigh under 10g, fit in a 1cm cube, etc, the PICAXE is
the way to go.

I'n not knocking the RPi, just pointing out that, as what is a
effectively a vastly shrunken and cheaper desktop device running a proper
OS (regardless of whether you're a Debian fan or not) there are projects
where something like a ParallaX STAMP or a PICAXE is the better solution.

> How many fucking variables has the biggest program you ever wrote ???
> Any idea how much 8 GB is?
> 8,000,000,000
>
Lots, if you include database systems doing complex tasks, such as
managing the creation, production, contractual details and broadcasting
of classical concerts and other related programs, but I agree about the
8GB - we did that in 16MB for multiple users *but* that was on a
mainframe with greenscreen 80x24 terminals so no memory wasted pissing
about with fancy graphical displays or hifi binaural audio streams. Those
are what chews up the memory in modern desktop systems and phones.


--
Martin    | martin at
Gregorie  | gregorie dot org

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