On 5/25/23 04:52, Tony Duell via cctalk wrote:
USB interfacing is hard, but SD cards are a lot
simpler. So use a card
reader thing to transfer the files to an SD card and design an
interface for that to ISA bus.
That's my approach with my own setups. 32GB SD cards are very
inexpensive and quite fast. So, rather than depend on a USB interface
to transfer data real-time to a PC, I use the SD card as intermediate
storage, later transferring the data off using either a card reader or
YModem-1K via serial port or USB. The side benefit is that the SD card
is large enough that I'll have a hard time filling it with things like
floppy images over the next few years--so I've got an automatic backup.
USB (or serial) is used mostly for commands and status (TTY emulator)
and can be run from a cheap tablet. The MCU I use does have ethernet
support, but I've found that to be unnecessary--the data volume isn't
that great.
For the programming language, I stick with C, not C++, not Python and
plain old makefiles--that's what the support libraries are written in.
I don't use an IDE, lest I become reliant on one--a text editor will do.
I document the heck out of code. Over the 50 or so years that I've been
cranking out gibberish, it's nice to go back to code that I wrote 30 or
40 years ago and still be able to read it.
I'm all too aware of the changing trends in the industry--and how
quickly they can change. I remember when there was a push in embedded
coding not long ago to use Ada--where is that today?
It's not that I resist technological change--I can and have written C++
and Python (what version?). On my desk sits a MicroPy board. I look
forward to advances in technology, but I'm also aware of how "bleeding
edge" trends can wither and get lost almost overnight. How many of you
program in Zig?
I imagine that in about 5 years, the main conversation will be about
using an AI to write code. Of course, there will be a new language to
instruct the AI...
--Chuck