What I want to say to microcontroller beginners

I have been in contact with microcontrollers for more than two years without realizing it. From the initial MCS-51 to the later AVR and MSP430, I still have some understanding of microcontrollers. Of course, I am only a rookie who has just started. I am still a beginner in many technologies. There are always people who are good at it. There are really too many great people. My classmates often ask me how to learn microcontrollers. My answer is always two words: practice. I think practice can lead to true knowledge. Without practice, you will never learn microcontrollers. This is the same as you will never be able to make delicious dishes if you read a hundred recipes but don’t cook, and you will never learn to swim if you read a hundred books on swimming but don’t go into the water. So how to practice? This may be the most concerned issue for beginners. There are many similar answers on the Internet. These are all old sayings. As long as you are a person with a heart, you can find a lot of them by searching.

Briefly talk about the steps of learning microcontrollers:

1. Buy common tools (multimeter, soldering iron, soldering iron stand, rosin, solder, screwdriver, desoldering machine, camera) and electronic components (universal board, resistor, capacitor, LED, rectifier bridge, digital tube, common connectors, etc.), first make a 5V DC power supply (transformer/rectifier bridge/7812/7805/a number of electrolytic capacitors, don't reverse the polarity of the capacitors), and then start with the basic LED drive circuit, sinking current or pulling current? How big is the current limiting resistor? How to calculate? Have you found that you don't understand a lot of basic knowledge, and you can't even name the model of the component. It doesn't matter, ask more people, there are still enthusiastic people in the forum and QQ technical group. Prepare a notebook, and write down useful knowledge.

2. Use the universal board to build a minimum 51 system (of course, you have to start with 51, there are too many materials), light up an LED first, then the digital tube, buzzer, relay, EEPROM, AD/DA, LCD, clock chip, digital thermometer, infrared remote control codec, etc. The triode is very common here, sometimes used for amplification, sometimes used as a switch, you must understand it clearly. It seems that there is a lot of work to do, so don't rush, do it one by one, who asked you to learn real skills. It is also very convenient to buy a development board if you have the conditions, and it is also interesting if you can stick to DIY. Many chips can be applied for free. The best ones are those from Maxim. I applied for many chips from Maxim, such as MAX1270, DS12C887, DS18B20, MAX518, MAX396, MAX7219, MAX145, etc. I would like to thank Maxim for providing me with free chips. If you really need them, apply for them. If you are just curious or greedy, don't apply. Don't let others look down on our future electronic engineers in China. Of course, the datasheets of these chips are in English, so college friends, even though we are studying electricity, we still have to learn English well.

3. For MCU programming, most people start with assembly. To learn MCU well, you need to understand assembly, but you must master C language in the end. C language is really powerful and convenient. I don’t need to say much about its benefits. I personally feel that Keil is the best IDE, and I recommend it here. Of course, you should start with the ticker. There are many source codes of MCU experiments on the Internet, which are excellent learning materials. You will gain a lot if you digest them well. The serial communication example of "hello world" should be adjusted as soon as possible. In the absence of an emulator, the serial port is the best debugging tool. An expert once told me: When you get a processor, the first thing to do is to open the serial port. Once the serial port is connected, it is like a martial artist opening up the tendons and veins of the whole body, and then learning other martial arts will be easy. The timer is a very important resource for the MCU, and its use must be clear. The expert said that a MCU without a timer is not a MCU. In fact, I have never seen a MCU without a timer. In addition, a good programming style is also very important. You will benefit a lot from reading the relevant information. There are also many such materials on the Internet.

4. After the program is written, how to download it to the microcontroller? It is not good to always borrow other people's programmers. Now some microcontrollers have ISP functions, such as 89S5X and AVR microcontrollers. There is an Easy 51Pro v2.0 universe version on the Internet, which has very complete information. Thanks to the selfless dedication of the predecessors. Make an ISP download line according to the circuit he said. It is very easy to use. If the one you make yourself is not easy to use, it is not expensive to buy a ready-made one. If you are still reluctant to spend the money, then try STC's 51 series microcontrollers. You can use the serial port to burn your program. This is actually called IAP. If you are interested, you can search it on the Internet. Of course, when you use more microcontrollers in the future, the programmer is still indispensable. [page]

5. Troubleshooting of microcontroller failures: For microcontroller problems, first find out the three elements of a CPU's operation: power supply, clock source (crystal oscillator), and reset circuit. Are there any problems with them? If you have an oscilloscope, that would be even better. Check if there is a fosc/6 square wave signal on the ALE pin. If so, it means that the microcontroller is working and the three elements have been met. If not, you can only check it again and again. In fact, it is very simple. There is generally no problem referring to the circuit in the book.

When you make something by yourself, you can be considered as getting started, and you will have a sense of accomplishment, but don't be satisfied with this little success, these are just tricks, and there is still a long way to go, such as FPGA, PCB, DSP, ARM, etc., all need to be learned. Save your circuit and source code, which are your wealth. There will be a time to use them. In addition, what you make may only be functional, and there is still a big gap from a mature product. Stability and anti-interference are not small problems. These knowledge must have a good basic circuit theory. Digital electronics, analog electronics, and signals learned in college are very important, especially analog electronics. Review them well to ensure that you will gain new knowledge every time you review. The road is long and arduous, so be patient and seek.

The earth is too dangerous. Without some skills, how can we survive? The necessity of mastering a skill is self-evident. If you want to learn, don't hesitate and don't wait until tomorrow.