Electronic and Embedded Fundamentals
An electronics primer for those new to microcontrollers and embedded development
While electronics is actually a lot more accessible than most people realise, there is a bit of basic 'theory' that you should really try to come to terms with when starting out. It isn't rocket science (all the genius stuff has already been done by the people who made the chips), but it does demand a little bit of know-how to figure out how to put it all together, such as understanding how your microcontroller interacts with the outside world, and how to choose the right component(s) for the right job.
Our main goal with this series of articles is simply to fill in some of the 'gaps' in understanding that we feel aren't always explained as well or as clearly as they could or should be. For example, you'll encounter hexadecimal numbers everywhere that you deal with embedded devices, but there are surprisingly few places that clearly explain how they work, and what all those numbers and letters really mean. Or perhaps you understand what a resistor is, but you may be wondering how to know exactly which one you should be using and in which situations (hint: Ohm's Law). Hopefully we can try to shed some light on some of those things that you see everywhere, but don't seem to be clearly explained anywhere. So ... big on ideas, but a bit hazy on 'how to get it done'? You're in the right place!