Hello Bobby,

I would recommend begin small and learn by experience. It is verry difficult to determine what you have to do if you don't know where youre going. So maybe it is handy to determine whats your goal.

But in common I would think:

Take an easy to understand/run processor and see if there are a lot of samples provided with this processor.
Start with assembler because this makes you clear how a microcontroller works.

I personal would think of a AVR of Atmel
like the AT90S1200(simple) or something more difficult (AT90S8515). These processors are easy to handle and are provided with a lot of documentation.

The other advantage of these Controllers is that they are in circuit programmable and that they can be re-programmed a lot. For In circuit programming there are a lot of hobby-sites providing this information.

On this way you get experience with programming (assembler) and you can go deeper anytime you want.


Hoped I have helped you,

Patrick Klok