POLL: Programming Subjects

[netwinder]

Thanks for your support everybody! If you'd like a language to be added i'd be happy to add it  to the list:)

[Mechanical Menace]

Not a language as such but something about inline assembly could be useful. When to bother, when not to bother, best practices, some basic examples doing the same thing in say ARM, x86, and say AVR asm could be useful.

Maybe something about what to watch out for when using C++ without a runtime could be useful too.

EDIT: I'll admit these are both subjects I'd like to tackle in some form of tutorial myself but I lack the communication skills.

[Iwanushka]

C/ASM/inline ASM in C

[netwinder]

I added assembly / inline assembly in C.

I haven't done alot of assembly programming to be honest, but I still have some knowledge of it. Any specifics of assembly? Or just a brief introduction

[Syntax_Error]

None of the languages listed in your poll have the slightest to do with electronics, so you need to add a "None of the above" category.

C, Verilog, basics of assembler, SPICE

and a far way down the list: MATLAB, Python, PCB Layout software, etc.

[netwinder]

None of the languages listed in your poll have the slightest to do with electronics, so you need to add a "None of the above" category.

Really? Because I've used object oriented programming in C++ and Python to do electronics related simulations.

I can agree with JavaScript / JQuery and PHP, however I know these languages and I know I can write about them. If you think i shouldn't write about them, dont vote for them.

[hans]

My take on this:
PHP - IMHO not worth much today, although I sometimes grab it when I need some website scripting that doesn't run on my own machine
Python - I pick this if I can. And it's a great productivity tool. But not essential to do the job.
Javascript/jQuery - All aboard the hype train. It's probably subpar to PHP for me.
Assembly - Not very practical. These days only very useful if you want to squeeze the upmost cycle of an algorithm for power efficiency and/or throughput. But remember that productivity in this language low, and probably not a very good initial starting point.
C - This is my vote. Most widely used for embedded micro's in electronics. I would have combined this in-line assembly in C. Because sometimes you can't avoid it. I also want to emphasize that with C, although you don't write assembly, you should read the assembly code sometimes the compiler generates.
C++ - would be my 2nd choice to C, can be used for some embedded platforms, and also to build Qt applications and various other bits and pieces.

Additionally, after having briefly looked at your website, please don't mix up Arduino and C. Arduino themselves don't want to admit you program C or C++, but rather their processing language or whatever. Under the hood you lay out a C-style program (often) but refer to C++ objects and libraries. Headers/prototypes/references to other .ino files are automatically generated, which is all very confusing.

[lem_ix]

Agree on python, it's useful for a lot of things, test generation or as a matlab replacement,etc etc.

[apelly]

Of interest, in decreasing preference are C++, Python, C

[netwinder]

My take on this:
PHP - IMHO not worth much today, although I sometimes grab it when I need some website scripting that doesn't run on my own machine
Python - I pick this if I can. And it's a great productivity tool. But not essential to do the job.
Javascript/jQuery - All aboard the hype train. It's probably subpar to PHP for me.
Assembly - Not very practical. These days only very useful if you want to squeeze the upmost cycle of an algorithm for power efficiency and/or throughput. But remember that productivity in this language low, and probably not a very good initial starting point.
C - This is my vote. Most widely used for embedded micro's in electronics. I would have combined this in-line assembly in C. Because sometimes you can't avoid it. I also want to emphasize that with C, although you don't write assembly, you should read the assembly code sometimes the compiler generates.
C++ - would be my 2nd choice to C, can be used for some embedded platforms, and also to build Qt applications and various other bits and pieces.

Additionally, after having briefly looked at your website, please don't mix up Arduino and C. Arduino themselves don't want to admit you program C or C++, but rather their processing language or whatever. Under the hood you lay out a C-style program (often) but refer to C++ objects and libraries. Headers/prototypes/references to other .ino files are automatically generated, which is all very confusing.

I agree, I remember programming for an Arduino for the first time and I noticed how simplified it is. On my website I do call it C, because the programming concepts used still apply. The user experience is simplified, however under the hood is rather interesting. http://www.arduino.cc/en/Hacking/BuildProcess

IMO i'm not really a fan of the arduino platform, i'm happier with something closer to the metal (PIC, anyone?)

My question for you: if i were to do a C tutorial, would i make it general or would i focus it on a specific platform?

Thanks everybody for the feedback!

[amspire]

Javascript is something I have always wanted to get into. I love the fact that it is the language you can run with just a browser, but you have to work around the lack of any system access.

Specifically, what I want to learn to do is to easily be able to connect micro-based devices I make to a PC's ethernet. Then with just a very basic web interface in these devices, they can send javascript files + data to a browser and you can get a graphical display on any computer with a browser. Cannot save data locally with javascript, but I probably could synchronise it to cloud storage.

The beauty of this is if I make a micro-based device with Ethernet either directly of via a custom hub box (say micro-device->RS232->CustomHub->Ethernet->PC Browser), I can connect it to any computer and get a full graphical interface - no drivers needed, no programs on the PC, no hardware dependant software.

If Javascript is to unstructured, there are alternatives like the Dart javascript compiler.

Richard

[netwinder]

Javascript is something I have always wanted to get into. I love the fact that it is the language you can run with just a browser, but you have to work around the lack of any system access.

Specifically, what I want to learn to do is to easily be able to connect micro-based devices I make to a PC's ethernet. Then with just a very basic web interface in these devices, they can send javascript files + data to a browser and you can get a graphical display on any computer with a browser. Cannot save data locally with javascript, but I probably could synchronise it to cloud storage.

The beauty of this is if I make a micro-based device with Ethernet either directly of via a custom hub box (say micro-device->RS232->CustomHub->Ethernet->PC Browser), I can connect it to any computer and get a full graphical interface - no drivers needed, no programs on the PC, no hardware dependant software.

If Javascript is to unstructured, there are alternatives like the Dart javascript compiler.

Richard

Interesting project, by the way you can save files locally with Javascript. Also if i were to write Javascript tutorials I don't think they would involve an implementation like that. I like the idea though