Guide For Working With AVR Microcontrollers

March 14, 2011 by Mike Szczys 8 Comments

[Q] wrote in to let us know about the AVR-Guide he’s been working on. It looks like he’s finished posting about 80% of the content he planned for in his initial draft outline. We read through several of the sections and found them to be concise, yet able to present information in a way that’s easy to grasp. The screenshot above shows the most basic block of information to get started with AVR microcontrollers. We’ve covered the same information in our AVR tutorial series and think that reading through both will give you a strong understanding of the knowledge needed to work with 8-bit microcontrollers with confidence. But this resource doesn’t stop after the basics. If you’re looking to bolster your knowledge of all the features the AVR line has to offer there’s also sections explaining Digital I/O, Interrupts, Timers, Analog I/O, Communications, and Miscellaneous topics.

The site is called QEEWiki. We logged in using a Google account (this is hosted as a Google site) but didn’t see a way to edit the information. If this truly is a Wiki and you know how to edit pages please leave a comment about it after the break.

Guerilla Guide To CNC Machining

December 22, 2010 by Mike Szczys 17 Comments

[Ian] wrote in to tell us about the Guerilla Guide to CNC Machining and Resin Casting. He came across it in the reference links to another project and says he wish he knew about it a long time ago. We took a look and there’s a mountain of useful information in the guide, which is written by [Michal Zalewski]. We won’t pretend that we’ve read the whole thing, there’s days worth of information here. But we will. The range of topics includes types of milling machines, milling materials, software options and use, safety, and the list goes on. Bookmark this (don’t forget the second volume), it might be just the thing to get you through the holiday with your family.

2010 Hacker Gift Guide

November 17, 2010 by Joseph Thibodeau 28 Comments

You’ve probably been fantasizing about getting amazing gifts this December, like robots with servo-mounted laser pointers and authentic battle damage. It’s time to realize that it’s unlikely that this will happen. Stay calm. You can still get sweet hacky things if you just forward this gift-giving guide to your friends and loved ones.

Join us after the break to see what we want and be sure to let us know what you’ve got your eye on.
Continue reading “2010 Hacker Gift Guide” →

Strunk & White Can Apply To Programming

October 15, 2008 by Kimberly Lau 8 Comments

The Elements of Style by [William Strunk, Jr.] and [E.B. White] has long been a favorite of English majors and great writers. [James Devlin] suggests that it can also be a good reference for programmers. With just a few changes in wording, the same guidance that applies to good writing can apply to good coding. For example, [Strunk] and [White} emphasize the importance of structural design to writing. Replace “writing” with “programming”, and the principles are exactly the same: “Programming, to be effective, must follow closely the thoughts of the writer programmer, but not necessarily in the order in which those thoughts occur.” So keep this guide in mind next time you start a new project.

[via Kottke]