I'll add just one small thing to the thoughts expressed already.  In my 
earlier post I mentioned that I started out doing a lot of reading, and 
I still continue to do so.  However, I got to the point with my initial 
reading that I simply had to get SOMETHING in hand in order to 
progress.  I bought one of the less expensive programmers (PG4) and a 
breadboard so that as I read some of the tutorials, I can stop reading 
once in a while and say "let's try that."  I still spend much more time 
reading, but the only way to fully grasp these things is to get some 
hands-on reinforcement.

Nels

Bill Kuncicky wrote:

> Maarten Hofman wrote:
>
>> It is all a matter of personal preference, which is why I accepted the
>> answer to your post, and just hoped you also read my comments
>> regarding Myke Predko.
>>
> I hope that I did not come across as seeming to ignore your post -- I 
> did not.  For one thing, it was the very first reply to my very first 
> post on the piclist, so no way could I not value it!  :-)  I read it 
> very carefully, and took it to heart.
>
>> I got
>> where I am (and I think I got fairly far in six months) with the
>> PICmicro by always having direct feel to the hardware, and would have
>> great difficulty learning anything by not actually doing it.
>>
> I am just the opposite -- I have to have the picture of what I am 
> doing in my mind before I start, or else hands-on experience with the 
> hardware just doesn't work for me.  I might get things to work, but 
> will not really understand why they work.  More importantly, I won't 
> understand why they don't work, either.  In fact, strange as it may 
> seem, I seem to learn better by making mistakes and then figuring out 
> what I did wrong.  And it looks to me, just from reading the different 
> posts on the piclist and realizing that I do not have a clue what they 
> are even talking about, that I have endless opportunities ahead for 
> making mistakes.  However, to return to my thesis -- when I read a lot 
> before ever starting, I usually remember that I saw some reference to 
> this, or that, or the other.  Just as a trivial example -- one of the 
> people who answered my post (more than one, I think) pointed me to 
> www.piclist.com/techref/begin.htm which I had not known about.  I read 
> that, and learned about some possible pitfalls for beginners, and that 
> list will stick with me.
>
>>> But as said, the
>>
>> tutorial that comes with the PICkit 2 (which I think you can download
>> from the Microchip website for free as well) is quite useful.
>>  
>>
>
> I am going to go download it right now, if I can find it.
>
>
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