[sdiy] Polyphonic keyboard scanner

[David G. Dixon]

> >Also, I bit the bullet and bought a book on microcontrollers today (at
> the
> >brilliant Powell's Technical Bookstore in downtown Portland, OR -- if
> you've
> >never been, and you find yourself in the area, you really must check it
> >out!).  The book is "Programming and Customizing PICmicro
> Microcontrollers"
> >by Myke Predko.
> 
> A reviewer on Amazon said that is the worst technical book in any field he
> has ever seen.  I agree.  It has lots of information, but it is not
> presented in a logical fashion, so it is nearly impossible to learn from,
> if you are starting from scratch.  IOW, the early material assumes you
> already know the later material, etc.  I've ended up using the
> manufacturer's data sheets whenever I use a PIC.

Yeah, I stayed up late and read the first couple of chapters lastnight, and
it was pretty hard slogging.  He was telling me all sorts of things I had no
context for, and kept saying "I'll discuss this in more detail a little bit
later."  However, it doesn't really matter, as my learning style is such
that I typically read snippets from lots of sources (books, datasheets,
blogs, whatever) and try to get something happening physically as soon as
possible.  The advantage of this technique is that I get going quickly and
have something to show for fairly modest efforts.  The drawback is that my
knowledge remains somewhat superficial for longer than it should.  (Having
said this, I'm not sure that anyone ever truly learns anything any
differently....)  In the case of microcontrollers, there is such a richness
of information on the web that I will probably find the book totally
superfluous within the month.