WEBVTT - TechStuff Plays with Microcontrollers 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:09.160 It's ready, are you? Didn't touch? With technology? With tech 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:17.560 Stuff from how stuff flix dot com. Hello there, everyone, 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:19.880 and welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:22.160 and I am an editor at how Stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:26.200 Sitting across from me, as always, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:30.720 Hey there, all right, today I wanted to take control 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.960 of the podcast. This is different from any other week 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:38.120 how us. Yeah, we'll see now I'm singing Janet Jackson 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.960 in my head. That's how it's different from every other week. Yeah, 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:44.360 we were going through some other songs before we started 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:46.640 the podcast. It was it was kind of a loopy morning. 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:48.880 But today we wanted to talk about something that's not loopy, 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.240 although you can have a loop in the programming for it. 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:57.200 It is a micro controller. We've actually touched on these 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.880 in the past, well a segment of these, because we've 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.720 talked about the Ardueno, which is a kind of micro controller. 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.960 But Jonathan said, why don't we take a step back 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.520 and look at them as a whole. Yeah, we actually 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.400 had some people ask us about micro controllers. We even 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:13.639 had one person to say, could you explain the difference 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.760 between a micro controller and a microprocessor? And uh, and 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.360 and really the distinction is not black and white. There 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:26.119 are sort of black and silver. I'm just kidding. It's 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.479 also green in some places. Yeah, now there's um, there's 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:34.039 a there's certain characteristics that micro controller has, and if 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:35.720 it has enough of them, that's when we tend to 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.560 call it a micro controller versus a microprocessor. Now, in general, 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:46.839 a microprocessor tends to be a general purpose component. UM. Basically, 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:51.440 when most people talk about a microprocessor, they're speaking primarily 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:53.480 of the chip that does a lot of the computing 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.000 central process and unit is a very that's that's a 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.240 type of microprocessor. That's what I think of when I 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:03.800 think micropross UM. And there is a processor as part 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:07.280 of a micro controller. But a micro controller is a 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.360 very very tiny computer. UM. What doesn't have to be 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:14.280 very very tiny, but it is basically a computer on 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:18.680 a board. UM. So it would have the board, which 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.040 is the green I was referring to before, the circuit board, 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.120 and it would have a processor sawdered into it. But 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.880 it also might have other inputs and outputs on it, 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:31.240 maybe an USB output that's wired in and uh, a 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.600 couple of LEDs for example. It could be it could 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.320 be a lot of different things, but usually it's a 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:39.160 general purpose or i'm sorry, a specific purpose that the 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:42.320 micro controller is designed to do. And so you find 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:47.040 them in all kinds of things ovens, toasters, cars, microwaves, 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:50.160 um and you know, it is a computer, but it 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.200 is it's not like the kind of computer that sits 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.240 in your desktop, right. It's a very specific use. So 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:57.000 we know we've talked about these and things like we 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:01.040 had our our podcast about microwavest about a little bit 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.440 on that. But yeah, these are these are computers that 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:09.119 have very specific uses and because they have these narrow parameters, 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.400 they don't need to be general purpose, so they tend 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:16.600 to have a fairly limited number of of uses that 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.360 they can they can actually be UM employed for otherwise, 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.440 you know, it's outside the realm of their scope. So 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:28.000 here are some general guidelines as to what makes a 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.120 micro controller, and I'm pulling these from our article on 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:35.320 how micro controllers work, which is an extensive article. It 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.440 is it is one of our I mean, and it 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:41.120 goes into detail if you want technical details about micro controllers. 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.280 It's an excellent resource, and it was written by Marshall Brain, 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:47.000 who was the founder of how Stuff Works dot com. 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.880 In fact, he uh he took a specific kind of 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.320 micro controller and talks about programming and how that you 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:55.920 how you would get into that and um, you know, 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.880 it depends on the micro controller how you would program one. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.000 So we're not going to get into that much detail. 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.720 We're really going to touch on, uh, the uses of 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.000 micro controllers in general and and what goes into you know, 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.520 the makeup of them. Yeah, we might talk a little 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.119 bit excellent, Yeah, we'll talk a little bit about programming, 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.640 but we're going to take a very general approach because otherwise, 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.200 you know, you have to do a specific podcast over 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.520 each one and that would just be ridiculous. But but 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.040 Marshall went into detail on that specific kind of micro 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.200 controller and which is a programmed in basic Yes, which 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.520 is kind of cool because I don't usually typically think 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.400 of that as a micro controller language. Right, So let's 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:36.279 let's get down to the basic features of what a 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:40.000 micro controller is. So as as Marshall pointed out, they 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:44.320 are typically embedded in something else. So a micro controller 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:48.039 is not its own thing, it is part of something else. 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:52.040 So for an example, the microwave. The micro controller is 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.919 what allows the commands you put into the microwave to 0:04:55.960 --> 0:05:01.200 be transferred into action within the microwave itself. Then they 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:06.080 are dedicated to a specific task or specific program, and 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.040 that program tends to be stored and read only memory 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.320 and does not change. So, in other words, it's something 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.960 that you're going to do over and over again, you 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.760 know it's it's it's dedicated to a task that is 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:23.600 repeatable and is not changing after you've done it once. 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.880 So like a calculator and you you use a calculator 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.880 to add five to five, that's never going to change 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:34.920 unless the laws of the universe change, in which case 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:39.359 or you know, some some sort of crazy, wacky parallel 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:44.080 universe thing happens. Yeah, remind me to get a new calculator, right, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:48.599 so then you have. They also tend to be very efficient. 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:52.680 They tend to not require a lot of power to operate. 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.520 So for example, you know, you might have a full 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.440 computer that has its own onboard battery, but you tend 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:01.760 to keep bit plugged in because it drains a lot 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:05.080 of power. Right, Well, micro controllers do not require so 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.920 much power, so they can be battery operated and last 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.119 for a long time and they're only pulling power whenever 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.560 they're in use. So that's why you could have a 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.880 calculator that's battery operated and you don't have to change 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.000 the batteries out that frequently. And of course you have 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.440 one that has also the little solar panels on it, 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:24.120 you may not ever have to change the batteries, depending 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.680 on you know, the the environment you are in when 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:31.760 you are using it. UH. It has a dedicated input 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:36.280 device and usually, but not always, has some sort of 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:41.040 display to show the output for the device. And UH 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:46.160 normally you have this display there when you are first 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:50.920 building or programming your micro controller, and it's in order 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:52.880 for you to make sure that the program you have 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:56.240 built is operating properly before you start to go into 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.799 like a manufacturing phase and you start implementing it into 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:02.240 a product. So you would want to be able to 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:07.560 test this extensively before you went into full production, otherwise 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.760 you could end up producing a line of of things 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:14.120 that are flawed because there was some line of code 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.600 that you left out, or there was an extra character 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.080 or something. And now when you add five to five 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.240 you get cake. Like I said, I need a new 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:29.000 calculator cake. Now, the the use of microwave in this 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.920 case is a good example because um, you know, in 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.600 the in the chips baked into them, not baked into 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.880 soldered into I'm just tripping all over stuff today, UM, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.440 soldered into the board inside the micro controller in the microwave. UM, 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.000 it's got instructions on you know what each of those 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:50.160 digits does. On the keypad, it's got UM instructions on 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.280 on what to do when you press the coffee button 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:56.000 versus the the popcorn button. UM. So many of these 0:07:56.000 --> 0:08:00.520 microwaves have these dedicated buttons now UM. But it basically 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.040 the instructions are, hey, if he presses the pizza button, 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.640 that means put the microwave on high for seventy five 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:11.040 seconds and that's it, you know, start. So it has 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.120 those instructions in there, and it also has a display 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.360 UM instructions, so it shows what is going on to 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:19.920 the user, so that he or she has an idea 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.000 of how long it's going to be cooked for and 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:24.920 what power. But you know, it doesn't have to do 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:29.640 things like tuna radio or um uh try to find 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.560 Facebook or something like that, or or do WiFi, because 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:34.760 it's not a program to do that, so they can 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.480 they can mass produce these boards with the ROMs already 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:39.679 in them and assemble it as part of the microwave, 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.400 and every microwave should work that comes off the line 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:44.800 with that board, and it should work the same, right 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:49.079 and UH, and it doesn't have to be a manual 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:54.320 input for a micro controller to produce an output. So, 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:57.160 for example, the micro controllers you have in your car 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:01.440 could be connected to various sensors in your car, and 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.040 what happens is the sensor sends an input to the 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.080 micro controller, which then UH creates the appropriate output for 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.600 whatever that might be. And it might be that it 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.480 changes the settings of something else it's in your car, 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:15.960 or it might be that sends a signal so that 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.560 the little check engine light pops up on your on 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.120 your dashboard, so that you then have to figure out 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:25.080 what the heck has gone wrong. So for example, in 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:27.640 my house, you figure out where you put the electrical 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.320 tape so that you can tape over the check engine like, well, 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:35.839 problem solved. Well that anybody who's actually watched when they 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:39.960 do the diagnostics on a car, And this would be 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:42.400 good for the folks over car stuff to talk about 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.000 but um in more detail. But you know, there is 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:48.360 a board that they plug into so that the mechanic 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.880 can plug in and it will read what the micro 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:54.160 controllers inside the car, and there are several for different functions. 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:56.960 Um you know will say, hey, the check engine line 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:01.120 is on because you know error code five seven five 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:02.800 one two, and they look it up in a book 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:04.520 and they go, oh, well, that means that the e 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:06.920 g R valve needs replacing or yeah, or there's a 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:11.439 belt that is not working properly. Yeah, and then it 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:13.760 turns out. Just in case you're wondering, there are apps 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.280 out there for smartphones where you can get a proprietary 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.360 cable that will hook up into a smartphone and you 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.440 hook the other end of the cable to your your 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.079 cars computer and it will actually tell you what the 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:28.679 code is. Now, you may still have to go and 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.920 look up what the code means, because not all of 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.800 these apps have a complete database on what every single 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.319 code for every single model of vehicle translates to. But 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:40.160 at least then you can have an idea of what's 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:44.040 actually wrong. Which that's for that, you know, if I'm 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:46.480 gonna do it yourself. Yeah, we're getting off topic of it, 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:49.080 but the idea being that you will you'll be able 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.240 to diagnose what's wrong with your car. So that way, 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.480 when you take it into a mechanic, you can be 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:58.400 reasonably sure that whatever the mechanics telling you is either 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:01.319 true or not true, because there's always that worry, you know, 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.640 when cars get more and more sophisticated and becomes more 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:05.719 and more difficult to understand what's going on with them. 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.920 You never really know if what the mechanics telling you 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.600 is actually what's wrong with your car, or maybe they're 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:16.160 adding onto it. Yeah. Well, of course not every mechanic 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:21.079 is untrustworthy, but sometimes there there there's some good mechanics 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:22.880 out there. But that's the thing is that because you 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.559 don't know, you have to entirely on them exactly. I 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:29.679 don't think you're so off topic, Jonathan, because, uh, you 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:34.760 know that that really indicates how pervasive micro controllers really are. Um. 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:37.839 You know, people talk about the computers in their cars 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:39.839 or you'll see. Uh. I have a toaster that I 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:41.680 thought was kind of funny a few years ago because 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:45.760 it said, you know that it it had a microprocessor inside, 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:47.680 and I was thinking, really, is that a selling point 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.520 for my toaster? Um. But yeah, I mean, these these 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.559 devices are in just about anything that we plug in 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:56.880 these days, and some things that we don't, like your cars, 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:00.719 and um, you know. The the good the advantage to 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.319 that is that, you know, it does make these devices 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.800 more sophisticated. It gives us more control in some cases, 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:09.319 it gives us more um options as far as what 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.199 we can do with all the I mean this gigantic 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:15.480 range of devices. It also provides more points to break 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:21.000 down because you know, typically the more complex a thing is, 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.480 the more chances it has to bust. This is something 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:31.000 we yes, well, systems have a tendency. The more the 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.720 more organized and complex a system, the greater the tendency 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.000 is for it to slowly break down into the simplest 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.559 form right right, And that's you know that. I think 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:45.959 that is why it's interesting to look at micro controllers because, um, 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:48.160 it gives you a sense of what's going on behind 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.040 the scenes and what may or may not be at 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.200 at play. Um. But it's good that micro controllers can 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.079 help us track these things down to when it's not 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:59.959 the micro controller itself that's the fault. Um. But yeah, 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.760 typically these are not things that we program ourselves like 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.360 you program a computer. You might learn Java or Ruby 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.720 or Python to go program a computer. Most of these 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.320 things are behind the scenes that ROMs are soldered onto 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.920 the boards. We never touched them. Yeah, now that doesn't 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:19.160 mean you can't, but right, but they're they're specific types 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:21.120 of micro controllers you would have to get in order 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.040 to be able to to program on top of them. 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:30.280 I'm going to overclock my toaster like cold toast way well, 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:34.480 you know, never toasts anymore, reduced the resistance. Uh, it's 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:38.280 pretty amazing. Now the there are a couple of other 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.079 little things I want to talk about, other features that 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:45.200 could possibly uh mark something as a micro controller. They 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:49.040 tend to be small, They tend to be fairly cheap, 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:51.480 which is important. I mean, that's one of the reasons 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.720 why you want a micro controller. You want something that's 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:56.679 focused and narrow because you don't have to worry about 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.920 building in all these other features, and that helps red 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.280 is the cost, which, of course you then turn around 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.679 and you can you can competitively priced whatever your product is, 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:11.960 whether it's a toaster or a car. And then they 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:17.680 also often but not always, are made to be pretty 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:21.200 tough to work in a variety of conditions because obviously, 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.520 if you have a car, the operating conditions inside a 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:28.160 car tend to be pretty warm. Engines. Engines give off 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.360 a lot of heat, um, and so you need to 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.480 have electronics that can withstand that heat because, as we 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:42.560 all know, heat plus electronics often equal sad faith. Yes. Well, 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.720 and in the cases of things like uh, now that 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.360 we have these these wireless handheld game controllers and things 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.200 like that, um, you know, sometimes they tend to fly 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.480 around the room when people get a little bit over zealous, 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.560 you know, things like that. You don't want it to 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.520 uh the components to be exposed, because if you do, 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.280 then they're gonna break. Yeah. Yeah, And then you might 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:10.600 want to know generally how powerful these micro controllers are. Well, 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.240 they don't need to be terribly powerful, and so a 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.640 lot of them, yeah, a lot of them are have 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:20.320 have some incredibly bare bones specs. Now, one of the 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.880 ones that Marshall wrote about was he said, like, if 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.400 you were to take a low end micro controller chips, 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:27.840 so this is not the state of the art biting means, 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.480 it would have around it could have around a thousand 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:35.120 bytes of read only memory and twenty bites of RAM 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.880 on the chip and then eight input output pins. And 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.760 so you know, if you're buying a whole bunch of these, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:47.840 they'd be pretty cheap because they're they're not very sophisticated. Um, 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.200 Whereas if you were to get a micro processor, then 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.560 you would have to spend more money because you're going 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:55.800 to be packing a lot more components, a lot more 0:15:56.160 --> 0:16:01.000 features onto the same size chip. You could certainly build 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.840 one of these yourself. Um. There are plenty of places 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.160 where you can get the chips and boards and other 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:10.160 components where um you could do you could essentially build 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:13.800 a micro controller to take over any kind of project 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:17.320 like this that you wanted to undertake. UM. And you'll 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.280 see that these the processes that you can buy are 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.640 you know, they're fairly inexpensive and they are not designed 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:28.080 to handle that kind of instruction set um. But what 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.240 what's really cool about that is that you can customize 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.440 a micro controller to do whatever it is that you 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.720 want to do, provided that you have the programming expertise 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:39.840 to do it. Right now, so you may remember, we 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:44.520 did an episode about logic gates while back now. Logic 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.640 gates are what allow you to control the flow of 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:49.840 electrons in such a way, so that you can have 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:55.560 a meaningful output depending upon particular types of input. And uh, 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:59.080 what these micro controllers do is they provide you the 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:05.159 opportunity to build gates in a software environment as opposed 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.960 to a hardware environment. So in other words, you could 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:12.000 accomplish the same thing that a micro controller does by 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:16.199 hard wiring things together. But that would make the components 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.639 enormous by comparison, right, because you would have all these 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.919 different wires and all these different components that that were 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.840 connected together, so that let's say you push a button 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.639 and you want this one particular light to come on, 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:31.200 but not any of these other lights to come on, 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:33.280 because those lights should only come on if you push 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.879 another button. Well, all the wires you would need to 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.720 put this entire system together might be pretty cumbersome, and 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:42.680 it might be that, you know, you could not fit 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.119 this in a very small package. And in fact, we 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.440 see this if we look at the history of electronics, 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.560 you'll see that the older the electronics are, in general, 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:55.359 the larger the the particular version of whatever it is 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:59.400 you're looking at was. So, for example, the earliest computers 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.800 took up sometimes an entire floor of a building, because 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:08.240 you know, you had to accomplish with basic electronic parts 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.920 what we can do with chips today. So a micro controller, 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.080 what that allows you to do with this read only memory, 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:18.720 that's where you can imprint on that a program that 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:24.639 through software creates a virtual series of logic gates so 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:29.119 that depending upon the inputs that the chip receives, it 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:34.280 will give out a specific type of output. So you 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:38.200 don't have to hardwire stuff as much with a micro controller, 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.600 although there is still hardwiring because you do have to 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:44.800 you know, you do have to actually connect inputs to 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.639 those those input pens, those input output pins, and you 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:50.800 have to connect the output to whatever it is that 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.399 you are you know, using as an output. Often it 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.160 tends to be a little l c D or LED 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.560 screen when you're at least when you're first programming it, 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:01.600 so that you can make sure that you're getting the 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.760 response that you want. Uh, you know, there is still that, 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.920 but the majority of the work comes from building out 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:15.119 the logic within the program itself. Now as yeah, and 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:17.720 and it it really is programming. It really is saying 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:22.280 for this instance, when this happens, this is what needs 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.399 to happen as a result. That's the basic idea of 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:31.800 a program, right and given this, given this instance, this output. Yeah, 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:33.920 and I think it's it's fair to say. And I haven't. 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.600 I'll be honest, I haven't. As much as I want 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.640 to get into, uh some basic hacking, I haven't really 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.959 worked with any microprocessors yet A sorry micro controller, I've 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:48.000 worked with either one of them. Frankly, um, I'm going 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.200 to trip over everything I say today. I'm just gonna 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:52.200 stop talking. But what I was gonna say is that, 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.600 you know, from many things, many people think of programming 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:00.800 as you know, egad, it's programming that's not for me, 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:05.440 and you know, really programming is for anyone. But if 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:09.520 you are concerned about that, you shouldn't be as far 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:13.160 as micro controllers are concerned, because we're again talking about 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:17.639 some very simple things. Um. You know, literally, if somebody 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:20.760 pushes this button, then you want to do that, and 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.560 if they don't, don't do it. So you know, it's 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:26.200 not we're not talking about lines and lines and lines 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:28.240 of code. You're not writing a new operating system for 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:33.200 a desktop computer. You're writing a very simple, uh set 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:37.080 of commands to a very simple computer, right, especially since 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:38.520 you know you've got to keep in mind, these micro 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.000 controllers have very little memory on board. They can't hold 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:44.359 lines and lines and lines of code. What were we 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:47.560 talking about again? Yeah? Uh. In fact, the one that 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:51.280 that Marshall reads about in how micro controllers Work, the 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.439 basic stamp. He explains that it can hold about seventy 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:58.160 five lines of code. So you have to make sure 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:02.600 that your program is very succinct, that it's compact, that 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.040 you're not taking up lines and lines and lines to 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:08.920 accomplish wherever the goal is. So uh, you know, by 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:14.000 by necessity you are kept to a pretty small amount 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.800 of coding, which if you are just getting into coding, 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:18.440 might be a great thing. It might be, you know, 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:22.720 to teach yourself how to think in a sequential way, 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.359 the way a machine processes information. I was about the 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.240 way the machine thinks, but really thinking is well, it's 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:32.680 not quite the right word thinking in quotes. We like 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:34.840 to to say that the machine is thinking when you 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:37.720 see the the hour glass or the spinning beach ball. 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:40.920 But yeah, it's really just processing data. It's just it's 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:44.200 going through whatever the data is that's coming into it 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:49.639 and saying, uh, what's the right response to this? I 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:55.000 got it our glass? Yeah, Well, and and uh that's 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:57.119 that's sort of what I was getting at. If this is, 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:01.520 if um, you're interested in get into hacking. And I 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:04.000 mean that in the the classical sense, not in the 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:08.000 we're going to break into government computers and take over 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:11.560 the world sense. Um. You know, a micro controller. Working 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:15.280 with a micro controller might be a good UM experiment 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:17.320 because then it would give you something that you could 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:21.119 physically that you could work with, UM maybe come up 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:24.639 with your own experiment or your own UM component for 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:29.439 doing something cool. And it doesn't require an extensive amount 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.239 of programming to make it work. UM, so it might 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:34.200 be it might be a fun project for somebody who's 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:38.360 just getting into programming. Yeah, so uh yeah, I would 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:43.439 recommend anyone who is really interested in learning about programming 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.840 micro controllers and what they can do go to the 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:50.240