Internship Day Five

Entry Date: 7/27/09

Day five of our internship experience was a day of firsts. It was the first time Jordan used a breadboard, and the first time either of us had programmed anything. The day began simple enough -- Jordan and I spent the first 30 minutes reviewing our blog entries and comparing notes. Then began the problem solving. Jason taught us the basics of a breadboard (ground, voltage differentials, rails, etc.) and from there we wired up a simple three LED flasher. We then connected the flasher to an MPLAB debugger device which allowed us to program when the LEDs lit up. We then reviewed/learned how to count to ten in binary; another first for me! The confusion came when Jason asked us to write a program in C that would cause the LEDs to count from 0 to 7 in binary. An LED that was off signified a 0 and an LED that was lit signified a 1. This took a while as neither one of us had ever programmed before. We eventually learned some basic syntax and commands such as include, int, else, if, break, and =.

The hardest part of the day came when Jason asked us to program in a switch which could control when the LEDs would change what number they were displaying. The bread board side of things were simple enough, it was the programming that gave us a hard time. We spent a good hour trying to figure out how to change the program to incorporate a switch. All the while Jason gave us hints as to how to change the program. Following a long and sometimes confusing thought process we were able to figure out the correct programming. Not bad for first timers, I’d say.

 

Attachments: Day Five Notes, Breadboard Pictures

 

Breadboard pictures: