Best way to get started with programming other thi

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What is the best way to get started with programming things outside of your computer?

I don't mean mainstream things like cell phones with APIs.

Please assume working knowledge of C/C++

Answer 1

Maybe start with small microcontroller projects. This may be helpful: http://www.kmitl.ac.th/~kswichit%20/

Answer 2

Buy yourself an HP 10C Calculator, and then program all those "programming 101" math algorithms using its insanely small but practical calculator language. Reminds me of assembler, but it's not.

Answer 3

I have personal experience and would recommend using these products to program PICs:

Programming board GCBasic (Open Source Basic)

The PICs are cheap ($2 bucks or so) and the board will cost you around $120.

Recently, I have been impressed with TIs wireless USB chips/programmers. You can get 2 chips and a programmer for $50 bucks. It also comes with a free C compiler. By default it comes with a sample remote temperature program.

TI wireless target board

Answer 4

Brian, you might find the Arduino interesting. It is inexpensive and pretty popular. I started playing around with micro controller boards and such a few years back and that lead to an interest in robots. Kind of interesting, at least to me.

If one is interested in a .NET-flavored development environment, there is an analog to the arduino call netduino that is worth a look.

Answer 5

I vote for the Nintendo DS:

• Nice hardware : 2 CPUs, 2 screens, touchscreen, mic, speakers, wireless, 2D and 3D acceleration
• No OS to speak of
• Freedom to talk to the bare metal without restriction
• Well-documented
• Very active dev community
• Enthusiastic audience for anything cool you create
• Cheap (shockingly so if you go for 1st-gen units)

All-in-all it's really excellent fun to play with.

To get started:

1. Get a DS
2. Get a SLOT1 flash-cart (I've got a DS-X, but there are plenty of others)
3. Get devkitpro
4. Go here for help or advice

Answer 6

I'd look into stuff like (unofficial) GBA development or the like, sure there are "Libraries" but you can go digging and just stick bits into specific addresses and make stuff happen. You can't get more "No API" then raw memory-mapped hardware access.