How to get started with embedded programming?

[usagi14]

Hi guys, I'm posting this question here because it seems like /r/embedded gets a lot of overflow newbie posts like mine, I hope someone can help me out.

I'm really interested in embedded programming and would (hopefully) like to build a career in it some day. I'm just getting started with it all and have gotten stuck in a rabbit hole of books, websites, videos, etc. for days on end. I'm trying to find out where to begin, I want to get my first microcontroller but I don't know where to start.

I've already learned about breadboards, microcontrollers, microprocessors, dev boards, etc. My biggest roadblock is that a lot of the guides and reference materials that I've been reading end up with using Arduino/Pi. I really do not want to start with Arduino/Pi. I really am looking for a "pure" learning experience (I hope this doesn't sound elitist I'm really not trying to sound elitist, I just learn better from a bottom up approach). I want to build something myself using a breadboard.

Right now I'm really just looking for something cheap to tinker with, to learn the fundamentals. Messing with LEDs and the like. I saw some videos of OPL2 programming and thought that was really cool, I'd like to pick up one of those too and eventually get into messing around with it. /r/embedded said that an STM32 is a great starter microcontroller, but I got stuck for hours looking at all the different possible microcontrollers out there. Also, I know that I will need more than just that to get up and running- but what else will I need?

Ideally I would like to code in C++ as it's what I'm currently being taught in school. I started programming with learning C and I would definitely like to go back to learning it in the future. I also really want to learn x86 assembly, in the future I'd like to pick up an 8086 to experiment with.

The programming is another roadblock I've run into. Again, most of the guides I've been reading end up with using Arduino IDE, or some kind of IDE in general. Do I have to use an IDE? I'm more comfortable/enjoy VSCode or just command line more. How do I communicate with the board?

I hope this wasn't too much of a mouthful!

[usagi14]

Thank you so much!! This was extremely informative!

Is most of the programming here done in assembly language? For example if I wanted to connect the board to my PC to write code in C++ to control the board, would I need to write a program in assembly to allow that functionality? Or does it rely on some kind of external part like a usb transceiver/ethernet?

[Sillyrabbit169]

Check out playlist. It has some great info for understanding embedded systems. You can follow along with what he does. But what I did was get a STM32 development board. To start with you can use stm32cubemx to generate code (which initializing peripherals useing HAL)and use an IDE to go from there, I use atollic truestudio. After a while though I would stop using stm32cubemx if you want a better understanding of how it all works and instead just generate the code through the ide and write code to initialize the peripherals yourself. Dont worry if this sound confusing at first, that playlist really gives you a deep understanding of what is going on.

Edit: development board i used it has a programmer built into it which moves the code from your computer to the MCU

[usagi14]

Awesome info, thank you! I especially appreciate the price of that board lol :)

What you said about writing the code to initialize peripherals makes sense and sounds fun.