Experimenting with AVR Microcontrollers

Introduction

(Stephen Leacock) “Writing is not hard. Just get paper and pencil, sit down, and write as it occurs to you. The writing is easy—it’s the occurring that’s hard.”

I think microcontrollers can be a bit like that. You have a world of possibility—a blank page if you will—and you can combine the intelligence of your MCU, your own imagination, and the fantastic toolkits you have at your disposal to build pretty much whatever you can imagine. But, what will you build?

For some people, amassing the tools and the parts to build MCU projects can turn out to be most of the fun. Like a “wannabe” chef who spends ages sharpening knives, polishing silverware, and finding neat and tidy places for every little implement, it’s easy to get mesmerized ...