xy plotter

[abdullahseba]

Hello  i am making an xyz plotter & i want to make a graphical program to run it using a usb but i don't know programing
is there an easy way to learn ether c++ or c#  for windows & pic.  I am 14 years old so something easy please

[Rerouter]

using usb is not something i am familiar with using, it may be easier if the pic emulated a com port (should be reference code for that)

on the pc end you would send standard ascii data over this com port say 00000000; 00040000; 00000530;;

which would be your X,Y and Z axis with a character you can use to designate the end of a string, (so you can then convert it back into a byte or an int or what ever coordinate system your using)

your pic would store this, make it usable and get to work while waiting for the next instruction, at this point it should not be hard to make the pic reply something when it reaches its destination, so that the computer cannot overrun what the pic is capable of storing,

as for the actual code, i have not strayed into usb based pics or pc side control software so cannot help with the specifics,

[electronics man]

I have had a similar idea to this.
I would say try some programming with arduino, raspberry pi and pressesing (this a ver good and quick way to learn programming) come back once you have some programming experience or find someone to do that bit for you and focus on the hardwere.

[MatCat]

When I was 8 years old I decided computers where my thing, I picked up a book on programming, once I read through it I found another, then another, 23 years later I still read programming books (Ok more like internet, but close enough).  C/C++ is not that difficult, and once you start to grasp it it is so similar to most other languages that you will be able to do almost any of them.

I don't have a single good recommendation for where to learn, I learned C when I was just a little boy, so I recommend doing some good googling and find a resource that will help you learn it. 

Arduino is a good place to start as an absolute beginner on programming, it has an easy interface and hides a lot of the nitty gritty part of programming in C.

[mdszy]

Hello  i am making an xyz plotter & i want to make a graphical program to run it using a usb but i don't know programing
is there an easy way to learn ether c++ or c#  for windows & pic.  I am 14 years old so something easy please

Doesn't know programming, wants to immediately get into USB and GUI programming. And yet you want something "easy". Good luck, kid.

[Sigmoid]

Hello  i am making an xyz plotter & i want to make a graphical program to run it using a usb but i don't know programing
is there an easy way to learn ether c++ or c#  for windows & pic.  I am 14 years old so something easy please

There's a fable about Euclid and King Ptolemy. The king summoned Euclid to teach him mathematics, but was appalled by the complex and daunting tasks the philosopher faced him with, and demanded a shortcut, an easier way to understanding... To which Euclid replied, "there is no royal road to geometry".

The same is true of programming. Learning programming is not easy, but it can be a lot of fun. I learned Basic when I was 7, and Pascal when I was 10. When I was 14-15 years old, we were coding pretty complex stuff with friends in Assembly. Some of my friends even took part in the Demoscene at that age (it was blooming around that time). If you don't know what that is, google it.

So don't let your age put you off, you're perfectly old enough to understand all you need to start hacking. Of course there will be a lot of advanced mathematical and theoretical stuff they will torture you with at the university, if you choose to be a software engineer, but you don't need all that to create working programs.

I'd just get a book on general C programming first, and maybe MCU programming second, and follow the exercises those books put you through.

[AndreasF]

I don't think your age should mean you need "something easy". You are probably as well (maybe even more!) capable to learn to program as someone who is older.

Now, as the others have stated, going straight to USB, GUI and microcontroller programming at the same time is quite a huge goal if you don't know programming at all. I think there are two ways approach this, though: from the "bottom", by starting with microcontroller programming and straight C close to the hardware, or from the "top" by learning very high-level programming on a modern operating system.

Since you mentioned C# and GUI's, starting with the free Visual C# Express is a good way. This allows you to build applications with GUI and learn how to control what the application does very easily, because a lot of the underlying low-level stuff is taken care of for you. It will still teach you the universal concepts in programming and will be less frustrating than other methods. This would be the "from the top" approach.

For a "from the bottom" approach, going with any of the simple microcontroller development platforms (PIC, AVR, MSP430, but avoiding ARM based system initially) will do the job. I would advice staying away from Arduino-type environments (or at least quickly moving beyond them). They are not bad per se, but one of the most valuable things about microcontroller programmming is that you can deal directly with the hardware at a very low level. This forces you to learn about peripherals and their registers, read datasheets(!), be more vigilant about memory usage and a few of other useful skills.

Have fun!

[scientist]

Try an xy plotter, you really don't need the Z axis as it will be far more difficult to calibrate.

[abdullahseba]

Try an xy plotter, you really don't need the Z axis as it will be far more difficult to calibrate.

The z axis will be used for 3d printing

[abdullahseba]

I don't think your age should mean you need "something easy". You are probably as well (maybe even more!) capable to learn to program as someone who is older.

Now, as the others have stated, going straight to USB, GUI and microcontroller programming at the same time is quite a huge goal if you don't know programming at all. I think there are two ways approach this, though: from the "bottom", by starting with microcontroller programming and straight C close to the hardware, or from the "top" by learning very high-level programming on a modern operating system.

Since you mentioned C# and GUI's, starting with the free Visual C# Express is a good way. This allows you to build applications with GUI and learn how to control what the application does very easily, because a lot of the underlying low-level stuff is taken care of for you. It will still teach you the universal concepts in programming and will be less frustrating than other methods. This would be the "from the top" approach.

For a "from the bottom" approach, going with any of the simple microcontroller development platforms (PIC, AVR, MSP430, but avoiding ARM based system initially) will do the job. I would advice staying away from Arduino-type environments (or at least quickly moving beyond them). They are not bad per se, but one of the most valuable things about microcontroller programmming is that you can deal directly with the hardware at a very low level. This forces you to learn about peripherals and their registers, read datasheets(!), be more vigilant about memory usage and a few of other useful skills.

Have fun!

thank you but where can i download visual c#   

[AndreasF]

thank you but where can i download visual c#   

They re-branded it slightly with the recent version of this product line. It's now called "Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop", and can be found here:

http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-express-vs.aspx

At the bottom is also a link to the previous editions (Visual Studio 2010 Express), which has a specific C# edition.

[scientist]

Try an xy plotter, you really don't need the Z axis as it will be far more difficult to calibrate.

The z axis will be used for 3d printing

Get Makerbot to give your school a 3d printer?

[abdullahseba]

Try an xy plotter, you really don't need the Z axis as it will be far more difficult to calibrate.

The z axis will be used for 3d printing

Get Makerbot to give your school a 3d printer?

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