Maybe off topic or weekend topic..

Saw a thread on "How to BCD-to-Seven segment " being closed recently. Nothing wrong in THAT thread being closed but this is a typical case where a very simple issue for the experienced looks daunting for the newbie. Reasons could be : 1) Laziness. He wants spoon feeding 2)Needs help the first step. I have known many who struggle when left on thier own ( not that they dont try ) but do very well when guided - just a nudge here and tap there.

It is the case 2 that needs all the support.Most times he gets thrown out alongwith Case1 . Sad. For someone who is coding for 20 odd years, a quetion like "How to use a port pin as input " is sure to sound childish - but on every such case, if there is a mechanism to draw on his professional experience - well heaven on earth.

Since newbies cannot be wished away, I have a suggestion to start with :

Just rename the "Tutorials" link to "Newbie Corner" and add to the existing topics there, the following:
(with sketches )

1. Connecting MCU port pins to drive loads.
2. Read a Thumbwheel and display in 7 Segment LED
3. State Machine coding ( the recent tutorial by Mike)
4. Bit Banged I2C interface
5. 4x3 matrix keyboard interface
6. Sending text to parallel port printers

OK members may be able to add to the above listing based on past newbie threads.


Raghu