Possibly the coolest hello world application ever?

Well, i think this is the coolest hello world application ever. It is programmed in c. You might be saying that a hello world program is useless, and it may be in some circumstances, but i believe, this program is as good as any in my situation.

Here it is!
(Dont want to spoil it )









































What do ya think?











It was done with what are called microcontrollers. They are essentially little computers all on one chip. If you look closely, right above the display, there is a black chip, this is the brains of it all. I program it with the computer, using C. It connects to the computer through the ribbon cable to the right. I program the microcontroller, which displays text through the display. The display is a 16 character, 2 line LCD display. It is all powered with the 9 volt battery in the picture. If i wanted, i could disconnect the computer, and the chip would retain the program. I could even turn it off, and it would still retain the program. These chips are used i just about every electronic device, from cell phones to microwaves.

Specs of the chip vs my computer.

Computer:
250gb hard drive
1 gb ram
something like 2ghz processor
$300

Chip:
16kb hard drive equivalent (flash program memory)
1kb ram
1 mhz processor
$5

 

This could actually be a good beginning to interfacing with hardware devices - It isn't really as useless as a lot of the helloworld shit I've seen.

 

That's cool

I just think it's amazing how technology works and how you can actually project stuff like that.. Hm.

 

I did this so that i could ensure i made the connections properly.

I already made a light sensor that detects the amount of light hitting a sensor, and displays it on the screen


BTW: this isnt tethered to the computer, i can unhook it from the computer, and take it where ever i want etc.

 

Maybe think about editing your first post and giving a short or detailed explanation of how you did it, depending on how much you think users could gain from either one?

 

I wouldnt think users could gain much because it requires a bit of knowledge and quite of a bit of stuff. I think all the requirements cost like $100. Bare essentials would probably be like $75.

EDIT: edited my first post with info

 

Thanks for the information you provided. Work on making it into a digital clock now?

 

The possibilities are endless, im not sure where to go yet, i could do that, i have already made a light sensor, that detects the amount of light hitting a sensor, and displays it over the LCD. If i wanted to make a digital clock, i would have to get another component setup to make it accurate enough. Right now, it has 10% timing tolerance. So, if i waited 100 minutes, the controller could end up displaying 90 minutes, or 110 minutes.

 

Did you make this or did someone else, because then i would be impressed.

 

I made it -_-

 

Do you think that you can PM me the sourcecode/post a place where I can learn about this? Because it seems really interesting.

 

Well its more than source code, it is also some hardware too. Google "microcontrollers". Specifically, it is controller by an Atmel ATmega168.

You would need

- compiler (Usually assembler, c, or basic. Usually free.)
- programming software (usually free download)
- programming hardware (depending on the device you wish to use, anywhere from $10 to $35 on average)
- the devices themselves (anywhere from $1 to $10 each)
- the LCD ($15)

There are two main lines of microcontrollers

Microchip PIC and Atmel AVR. I use an AVR. They are quite similar in features etc.

NOTE: this is more than just a computer programming thing, it is also an electronics thing.

If you would like more info, contact me on MSN : [email protected]

 

Pretty.

 

I have wanted to learn to use microcontrollers for a long time now, but has never gotten around to it. How long did it take to make that Hello World from scratch?

 

like maybe 10 minutes

 

Wow that's really nice. Is the white piece a standard breadboard?

 

yes, it is.

 

Could you program that into a digital clock? That would pretty sweet.

 

it says in the thread that he made it >.>. nice1

 

crapkiller, did you use some form of tutorial/explanation as a point of reference or pretty much teach yourself from nothing...

I have already suggested that previously.

Way to go posting for no reason. That has already been addressed.