As someone with very little programming knowledge, the existence of all the “Learn how to program in our easy to use course and AI Assistance for $800 a month!” sites baffles me when w3schools is just… there. It has helped me massively, without a dime.
I also just realised that the about page of w3s has a ChatGPT section of “This is how ChatGPT describes W3Schools”, why???
That’s a big “IF” tho. I’ve been teaching embedded programming classes and had to teach folks some very basic stuff like how to RTFM or how to look for stuff on the internet - people don’t even use search engines anymore. 🌚
Claude has become the search Engine. Stackoverflow doesn’t even exist in the mind of Vibe coders around me. Disconnecting claude means coffee-time until it’s back
If you’re very new to that - I’d just recommend picking up some Arduino (at least UNO R3) starter kit plus some measurement tools - multimeter and maybe an oscilloscope (there are cheap handheld ones like DSO).
And then you just fool around with what you’ve got - try to read each sensors data, try to use each actuator, think of some useful projects with what you’ve got.
And from there you can go to stuff like ESP32 to explore wireless stuff (mostly compatible with Arduino too).
that’s a big IF. few weeks ago I had to teach a junior dev how divs worked, he had no idea. he even initially asked an LLM how they worked and the LLM hallucinated half the responses.
I’m a backend engineer that only does minor frontend tasks once in a blue moon, and on the top of my head I know two ways to center a div horizontally (well 3 with the obvious <center>) and one to center it vertically. When I hear frontend developers saying it’s hard, I always start questioning their competence at a basic level.
It’s not a difficult task at all without AI. I mean if they can use forms and sites like the og stackoverflow, w3 schools,.etc
As someone with very little programming knowledge, the existence of all the “Learn how to program in our easy to use course and AI Assistance for $800 a month!” sites baffles me when w3schools is just… there. It has helped me massively, without a dime.
I also just realised that the about page of w3s has a ChatGPT section of “This is how ChatGPT describes W3Schools”, why???
That’s a big “IF” tho. I’ve been teaching embedded programming classes and had to teach folks some very basic stuff like how to RTFM or how to look for stuff on the internet - people don’t even use search engines anymore. 🌚
Claude has become the search Engine. Stackoverflow doesn’t even exist in the mind of Vibe coders around me. Disconnecting claude means coffee-time until it’s back
I still use a normal search engine. I use AI chats when I really need it for something. Well it does makes thing easier tho
I’ve been wanting to try embedded programming for a while, it looks fun!
What would you recommend as a starting point? Any books I should pick up?
If you’re very new to that - I’d just recommend picking up some Arduino (at least UNO R3) starter kit plus some measurement tools - multimeter and maybe an oscilloscope (there are cheap handheld ones like DSO).
And then you just fool around with what you’ve got - try to read each sensors data, try to use each actuator, think of some useful projects with what you’ve got.
And from there you can go to stuff like ESP32 to explore wireless stuff (mostly compatible with Arduino too).
that’s a big IF. few weeks ago I had to teach a junior dev how divs worked, he had no idea. he even initially asked an LLM how they worked and the LLM hallucinated half the responses.
I know this gets said a lot, but… we’re so cooked.
I’m a backend engineer that only does minor frontend tasks once in a blue moon, and on the top of my head I know two ways to center a div horizontally (well 3 with the obvious
<center>) and one to center it vertically. When I hear frontend developers saying it’s hard, I always start questioning their competence at a basic level.This is a place of hatred and ridicule, not a serious conversation. :(