In SX Microcontrollers, SX/B Compiler and SX-Key Tool, johncouture wrote:

(Funny)

I think I am up to over 20 languages (C, ADA, Fortran, Pascal, Cobol, .... you know the drill) that I have learned in my career.  There are many similarities causing one to ask ... "why can't they settle on a single standard?".  But, in the end you realize that some languages are better suited than others.  You are quite right in that a solid foundation in program development and concepts is probably the most important lesson of all.  Because of my experience in programming I can pick up a new language pretty quickly (although, this last summer I took a class on 8051 and timers just dragged me all around the field).

It will be a long time before there is a "universal language": PBASIC is well suited for the MCU environment but could not hack it as a business programming language (i.e. databases, printing reports, downloading and analyzing data from the Internet).  On the other hand Visual Basic . NET would not fit on an inexpensive MCU.  Although they are similar in name, they are worlds apart in syntax and what you can do with them.

The Ubicom seems to have the right mix of features (i.e. virtural peripherals, Assembler, BASIC, low cost, great tech support and documentation) that make it a fun project all around.  The new SX48 and SX52 development boards are a tremendous bargain! (I just got mine in the mail!!!)   I'm afraid I'm going to wake up and find that Parallax is no longer offering those for $10 but the new price is $70  ....  (Thank you Parallax for the great product / price)

I think my hesitation at building a curriculum around the BS2 was the per unit cost and my perception at its limited capabilities (I can't say I have ever filled up a BS2 to the limit).  Thus, my introduction to the Ubicom SX line was "WOW" and I'm looking forward to building an Embedded Programming curriculum around it.  

I just wanted the "C" compiler so that I could try to convince one of my colleagues to teach a course on it (C is his language of choice).  Above, Peter posted a link to many alternatives and I'll be sifting through those in the coming weeks.  (Thank you Peter)

Meanwhile Nick, keep preaching the "developing algorithms" sermon because I agree with you!  I have several friends that consider themselves "programmers" but have a hard time organizing, documenting and in some cases understanding concepts like arrays, objects and interrupts.

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