Hi guys, I was searching ebay a couple of weeks ago and stumbled upon some arduino items.

They were reasonably priced and I thought it would be fun to get one and see how it goes.

I ended up buying this one:


http://www.ebay.com/itm/230717909419?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_1834wt_1413

it cost around $15 delivered and is really quite cool. It doesn't require a special programmer (like a pickit2) and plugs directly into your USB port.

You then download the free arduino IDE which is packed with loads of examples for you to get started straight away.


For the absolute beginner - this is the way to go. For those proficient with PIC's already, you should be able to pickup arduino programming in a day.

Something different to keep things interesting

I was asking around and what I got was that C was less intimidating than C++ but the Arduino language is based on C++.

I was looking at the book "C Programming Language (2nd Edition) [Paperback] by Brian W. Kernighan" but a review I read is that his book is not for beginners and another person said it is dense reading. So I might pick up "C++ For Dummies".

Ritchie is the inventor of "C" for those who don't already know.

No I would say stick with just C, avoid C++ you will hardly need C++ for any Microcontroller, I would say Arduino is based more on C.

And yes C it is more difficult to learn for a beginner but if you master C then you should be able to pick up any other programme language quite easily.

It all comes with practice!