Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction
C Programming and microcontrollers are two big topics, practically continental in
size, and like continents, are easy to get lost in. Combining the two is a little like
traipsing from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Chances are you’ll get totally lost and
if the natives don’t eat you, your infected blisters will make you want to sit and
pout. I’ve been down this road so much that I probably have my own personal rut
etched in the metaphorical soil, and I can point to all the sharp rocks I’ve stepped
on, all the branches that have whacked me in the face, and the bushes from which
the predators leapt. If you get the image of a raggedy bum stumbling through the
jungle, you’ve got me right. Consider this book a combination roadmap,
guidebook, and emergency first aid kit for your journey into this fascinating, but
sometimes dangerous world.
I highly recommend that you get the book, ‘The C Programming Language –
second edition’ by Kernighan and Ritchie, here after referred to as K&R. Dennis
Ritchie, Figure 1, wrote C, and his book is the definitive source on all things C.
Figure 1: Dennis Ritchie, inventor of the C programming language stands next to Ken
Thompson, original inventor of Unix, designing the original Unix operating system at Bell
Labs on a PDP-