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I'm sure this is just a bad quote: > “Every time I hear that a class of 8th graders are learning how to blink LEDs I realize that we’re making a difference,” s

by zoidb 14y ago

I'm sure this is just a bad quote: > “Every time I hear that a class of 8th graders are learning how to blink LEDs I realize that we’re making a difference,” says CEO Nathan Seidle Or there is more to it than that, sometimes I do get the sense that the explosion of using microcontrollers for hobby projects have been hammers looking for nails to hit.

HeyLaughingBoy 14y ago
I used to think that, but then I realized I'm looking at the situation from a privileged position as someone with an EE background. In reality, if the overkill of using microcontrollers to blink LEDs leads people to learn the fun of electronics and embedded programming, all the better. In time, some of them will learn to work more efficiently and become great engineers. If getting more people interested in creating technology is the goal, does it really matter what door they come in from?
- nickzoic 14y ago
  As much as I kind of hate to admit it ... The cost to a hobbyist of an 8-pin 555 timer[1] is not significantly different to the cost of an 8-pin TinyAVR[2] -- and the TinyAVR gives you a lot more options -- so that's the way kids these days blink their LEDs :-) [1] https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9273 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9273 [2] https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9378 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9378
  - mdda 14y ago
    Plus the fact that at a school-level, the 555 is a completely black box. Whereas the TinyAVR makes it easy for the more advanced students to 'go explore'.
InclinedPlane 14y ago
One could say the same thing about computers. For example, even back in the days of, say, the Apple II writing a "10 print hello 20 goto 10" program is similar to using a micro-controller to blink an LED. Or using a graphing calculator to compute the product of two numbers. It's 2013, you can't expect kids to be uninterested in the technologies available today. You wouldn't expect kids in 1985 to forgo the use of LOGO or basic and instead program using punch cards, or study lambda calculus. Today a little arduino or raspberry pi represents more computing power than the Apollo spacecraft used. But that's just the nature of technological advancement.

by zoidb 14y ago

HeyLaughingBoy 14y ago

I used to think that, but then I realized I'm looking at the situation from a privileged position as someone with an EE background. In reality, if the overkill of using microcontrollers to blink LEDs leads people to learn the fun of electronics and embedded programming, all the better. In time, some of them will learn to work more efficiently and become great engineers. If getting more people interested in creating technology is the goal, does it really matter what door they come in from?

nickzoic 14y ago
As much as I kind of hate to admit it ... The cost to a hobbyist of an 8-pin 555 timer[1] is not significantly different to the cost of an 8-pin TinyAVR[2] -- and the TinyAVR gives you a lot more options -- so that's the way kids these days blink their LEDs :-) [1] https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9273 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9273 [2] https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9378 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9378
- mdda 14y ago
  Plus the fact that at a school-level, the 555 is a completely black box. Whereas the TinyAVR makes it easy for the more advanced students to 'go explore'.

InclinedPlane 14y ago

One could say the same thing about computers. For example, even back in the days of, say, the Apple II writing a "10 print hello 20 goto 10" program is similar to using a micro-controller to blink an LED. Or using a graphing calculator to compute the product of two numbers. It's 2013, you can't expect kids to be uninterested in the technologies available today. You wouldn't expect kids in 1985 to forgo the use of LOGO or basic and instead program using punch cards, or study lambda calculus. Today a little arduino or raspberry pi represents more computing power than the Apollo spacecraft used. But that's just the nature of technological advancement.