On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 7:23 AM, Olin Lathrop wrote: > Apptech wrote: >> It's very very very hard for an expert >> to realise how very very hard some "utterly trivial" matters >> can seem. > ... > > Frankly, the ones that can't be bothered aren't worth the bother anyway. > Those that have a true passion for electronics and microcontrollers are > going to preservere, and will be better off for having put in their own > effort. Those that don't have the passion will only ever be mediocre > engineers at best, and would be better off finding something else to do. I saw this same elitist argument on slashdot a few years ago when the easy-to-install Linux distributions came about. Something like "It took me a week to install Debian, these newbs with the fifteen minute Ubuntu install are going to be the downfall of Linux!" The argument was just as wrong for Linux, as it's wrong here. The community was strengthened by the infusion of people who do not lead lives centered around computers. People with design sense, people who want things to work as simply as possible and who wouldn't tolerate complexity just because it comes with the history of Unix. The same argument has been directed at Wikipedia (by credentialed academics) and weblogging (by professional journalists). Amateur newcomers using their tools badly, without training, and who haven't learned all the hard lessons yet. In the case of microcontrollers, it makes even less sense to restrict their application to people with "passion" for microcontroller programming. By their very nature, micros are best suited to solving problems in other domains. So someone with a passion for robotics, or data collection, or industrial control, can indulge *that* passion by reading "PICs for dummies" and be only an adequate microcontroller user. This does not weaken the PIC community. It strengthens it. Regards, Mark markrages@gmail -- Mark Rages, Engineer Midwest Telecine LLC markrages@midwesttelecine.com -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist