Basic stamp or Pic

[CTMan]

Basic stamp or Pic? Which is easier to learn to program ?(I have extensive electronics background but no programming) Which is more universal? I have a book on the Pic and it seems they go on for a long time before any real action starts.

[philba]

I don't see them as mutually exclusive but there are definite trade-offs.<p>In terms of easy to use, the Basic Stamp will be easier to get up and running with your own code.<p>In terms of cost, it will be cheap to use a BS for your first project (because you need a programmer with the PIC). For all subsequent projects, the BS is wildly more expensive.<p>With a PIC, you can program very close to the hardware. It's harder to do with a BS (or any Basic system).<p>PICs come in an incredible range of capabilities, cost and form factors. From 6 pin, < $1 parts to 80 pin monsters at $12. With ADCs, PWM, Timers, Comparators, EEPROMS, Op Amps, UARTs, USB, I2C, Kitchen Sinks, temporal inducers, ...<p>Basic will be easier to learn than C or Assembly but it will hide the architecture from you and the Basic Stamp line is no where nearly as diverse as the PIC line. <p>Asm and C will allow you to do some pretty sophisticated stuff you can't do in basic. Really precise timing, for example.<p>Now, a Basic Stamp is a fine vehicle for learning microcontrollers. Given your lack of programming background, I'd recommend you start there. Learn the concepts of programming in an easy environment. Once you gain some confidence, get a PIC programmer and put together a small PIC system (solderless BBs are great for this) and play around with assembly language. <p>Now, to complicate things a bit, you can use Basic with out actually getting a Basic Stamp. There are a number of decent Basic compilers for the PIC architecture. You might want to consider that option for your first step. A lot of people like PicBasic (google for it). It will cost a bit more but you can use it on any PIC and gain the benefits I listed above. I think the entry cost is $100. If you are interested in going this route, there are things that can cut down the cost. just ask...<p>Phil<p>[ January 12, 2005: Message edited by: philba ]</p>

[bodgy]

I'd just add, that the types of Basic mentioned by Phil tend to be tokenised basic.<p>There are basics for Pics that are either structured (look and act very similar to 'C') or do indeed compile to a near true ASM.<p>If the electronic side of things is of more interest than programming, I'd say Stamp or Oopic type products are ideal. They get you going very quickly, and the more mature ones do indeed allow access to some very nice add ons.<p>However, if you need to understand how a Pic works and need to know how to perform or write program functions that are not covered by the original basic syntax (such as addressing hard drives or writing special packet code etc) then you will need to understand assembler and have a basic that allows you to not only implement this but also gives little code bloat.<p>Other Basics you could look at.<p>Proton Basic,
CH Basic
XCSB 'C' type basic - I use this one (it has no IDE of its own though)<p>And a Pascal style<p>Jal<p>You can see the difference between a tokenised basic and a structured type by looking at the code on my site.<p>Colin

[CTMan]

Gentlemen:<p> Thanks. I followed up on your suggestions and went down to the bookstore tonight. Reviewed the Stamp book. Looks a little simpler and easier to get started. Who do you think makes the best kit, SW and which Basic Stamp should I get?

[MikeFreeman]

Check this site out kronos<p>I have not used his Micros yet but I have looked at his programing books(online pdfs). Looks like a easy to use system and not to costly. Also has some nice looking starter kits.<p>Mike...........

[philba]

Nice products. However, I would recommend that he stick to more mainstream products. The Basic Stamp, for good or bad, is pretty common with lots of support pages, designs and code examples. A good learning vehicle.