For programmers

Electronics for programmers

You already think in state, timing and interfaces. This route maps them onto current, voltage, pull-ups and buses, with code you can read on a simulator that shows each wire.

FreeIn your browser3 courses, 42 lessons, about 24 hours

Start freeBlink: the first programSee the course

Overview

How you will learn it

Programmers often bounce off electronics because tutorials start with physics. This route starts where you already are: code that sets a pin, reads a button and talks to a chip, and then explains the circuit behind each line when it matters.

You will see why a floating input reads random values, why an LED needs a resistor, what a pull-up does and how I2C fits on two wires, each as a bug you can reproduce and fix.

Outcomes

What you will learn

Explain voltage, current and resistance with Ohm's law and pick part values.
Know why inputs need pull-ups and buttons need debouncing.
Read a datasheet's electrical limits and stay inside them.
Debug hardware with a meter, a scope and a logic analyzer, not just prints.

Your route

The courses and lessons to take

Every lesson opens in the editor right away, signed in or not, and the simulator checks each step.

Step 1 · 16 lessons · 12 h
Embedded on the Arduino Uno
Familiar code first: pins, inputs and timing.
1. Blink: the first programAn Arduino Uno, one pin and a program. Drive an output from code, watch the timing be real, and find out what delay() costs you.
2. Reading a pin, and the pull-upA button with no resistor of its own, an input that must never float, and why pressed reads low. The single most common wiring in embedded work.
3. Two rates at once, without delayThe pattern that unlocks everything else: keep when each thing last happened, and ask the time instead of waiting for it.
4. Reading a voltageThe ADC turns a voltage into a number from 0 to 1023. Build a divider, read two taps of it, and work out what a count is worth.
Every lesson in the course
Step 2 · 20 lessons · 10 h
Electronics basics
The circuit theory behind it, one idea each.
1. Ohm's law: volts, amps and ohmsOne resistor across 5 V. Change the resistor and watch the current change, then pick a resistor for a current you want. The one equation behind every circuit.
2. The voltage dividerTwo resistors in a row split a voltage in a fixed ratio. Read the middle with a meter, change the ratio, and build a divider for a voltage you choose.
3. Charging a capacitorA resistor, a capacitor and a switch. Watch a voltage take time to get somewhere, and learn the one number that says how long.
4. The transistor as a switchA tiny current into the base switches a big current through the collector. Switch an LED with a transistor and measure how much smaller the control current is.
Every lesson in the course
Step 3 · 6 lessons · 2 h
Debug like an engineer
The tools that replace guessing.
The multimeter, the oscilloscope, the logic probe and analyzer, Serial done right, and a method that finds any fault. Ends with a boss: three bugs in one circuit.
Every lesson in the course