Hi Bereket,

Can it be done in that length of time? Yes, but he's got his work cut out for him. It depends on a lot of things that you haven't said...like what kind of data is he supposed to log? Is he building his own hardware as well as programming the micro? What is the nature of the data he has to log?

If he's keeping track of how many times a switch is opened or closed, that's pretty simple, both in hardware and software.

If he's keeping track of temperature or similar where an analog signal has to be conditioned and converted to digital and then processed, that's a whole different task and probably beyond someone with only a basic electronics course behind him. Both hardware and software are more complex to design, build and debug.

What tools does he have available to use? Simulator, emulator, debugger, oscilloscope? Of course the more you have the easier it will be to track down the cause of problems encountered. It is possible to trouble shoot code with only a status LED on the board...

How set is he on using basic? Many applications are simpler to implement in assembler, and others require it because of the absolute control it gives.

How hard is he willing to work? He can start by going over the 8051 family documents referenced here often (a search on "erik" will find them!), and go over the tutorial here as well.

Read the data sheet for the micro being used! Most answers to specific questions are found here (sometimes well hidden though!) Searches on this forum and on google might produce examples of others than have done similar projects.

Don't be discouraged. While it might be difficult at times, there is a lot of satisfaction in making a piece of otherwise dead hardware do what you want it to do. That's what keeps me in this job, and I imagine I'm not alone.

Good luck,

Dennis