To start embedded programming, only assembler give you the possibility to get real knowledge about the micro controller.

Then after some experience (e.g. what is the stack, what the timers can be used for, whats port pins, registers, interrupts, ...) C was a good choice to build bigger projects and be still fast and effective. (I suppose to start C without assembler experience was only good to build slow, corpulent and faulty applicatons).


There was a readymade Java 8051 board available:

http://www.ibutton.com/TINI/hardware/index.html

But I really in doubt, that you can solve the first occurence of a problem without any assembler and hardware knowledge.
And the DS80C390 was very rich on features and so not an easy way to start for beginners.
The whole data sheet (including users guide) should exceed 200 pages and all these page should be studied very intensively before start.

E.g. the AT89C2051 represents a good starting level.
A C example of the AT89C2051 power can be seen at:

http://www.specs.de/~danni/ap.../index.htm

but then you should gain already some basic knowledge to understand it.



Peter