>why bother with Arduino when you're probably coming in with decent programming skills?
Pure Software programming skills are NOT enough when it comes to embedded programming. You need to know the logical interface to the HW and the EE/Electronics behind the HW itself. This is a huge challenge for people who have only worked with applications software over layers of abstraction. This is where the Arduino shines; hide the overwhelming HW complexities and provide a simple api for software guys to get their job done. This allows them to slowly gain HW knowledge and transition to "traditional embedded programming" as needed. Also, many experienced embedded developers are using the Arduino as a rapid prototyping platform to implement an idea quickly and get clarity on the project before implementation on the actual target using traditional means. Learners can do both on the same Arduino platform.
So here is my recipe for somebody wanting to learn Embedded Development;
1) Get a Arduino Uno, a couple of extra ATmega328Ps, a AVR programmer and a electronic components toolkit.
2) Get a book on Arduino programming and AVR programming. I can recommend "Exploring Arduino" and "Make: AVR Programming". You also need a book on Electronics and "Practical Electronics for Inventors" is a pretty good one.
3) Install the Arduino IDE and go through some blinky tutorials. Do some projects from "Exploring Arduino".
4) Now move on to direct AVR programming. The Arduino IDE has already installed the required toolchains. Setup a Makefile environment using them following instructions in "Make: AVR programming". Do some blinky and other projects from this book. This gives a command-line approach to AVR programming.
5) Next repeat the above using a proper vendor supplied IDE eg. Atmel Studio for AVRs. These IDEs are pretty complex but quite powerful and used extensively in the industry. Go through some tutorials and redo the blinky and other projects using the IDE.
6) Get some test equipment tools to look into the inner workings of the system. I recommend the multi-functional "Analog Discovery 2" which has lots of learning tutorials.
Congratulations; you are now a bare-metal "Embedded Developer"!
To enter the "big boys league", move onto ARM Cortex boards.
Finally you get to "Embedded Linux" and become a "Master Super-Duper Embedded Developer" :-)
Pure Software programming skills are NOT enough when it comes to embedded programming. You need to know the logical interface to the HW and the EE/Electronics behind the HW itself. This is a huge challenge for people who have only worked with applications software over layers of abstraction. This is where the Arduino shines; hide the overwhelming HW complexities and provide a simple api for software guys to get their job done. This allows them to slowly gain HW knowledge and transition to "traditional embedded programming" as needed. Also, many experienced embedded developers are using the Arduino as a rapid prototyping platform to implement an idea quickly and get clarity on the project before implementation on the actual target using traditional means. Learners can do both on the same Arduino platform.
So here is my recipe for somebody wanting to learn Embedded Development;
1) Get a Arduino Uno, a couple of extra ATmega328Ps, a AVR programmer and a electronic components toolkit.
2) Get a book on Arduino programming and AVR programming. I can recommend "Exploring Arduino" and "Make: AVR Programming". You also need a book on Electronics and "Practical Electronics for Inventors" is a pretty good one.
3) Install the Arduino IDE and go through some blinky tutorials. Do some projects from "Exploring Arduino".
4) Now move on to direct AVR programming. The Arduino IDE has already installed the required toolchains. Setup a Makefile environment using them following instructions in "Make: AVR programming". Do some blinky and other projects from this book. This gives a command-line approach to AVR programming.
5) Next repeat the above using a proper vendor supplied IDE eg. Atmel Studio for AVRs. These IDEs are pretty complex but quite powerful and used extensively in the industry. Go through some tutorials and redo the blinky and other projects using the IDE.
6) Get some test equipment tools to look into the inner workings of the system. I recommend the multi-functional "Analog Discovery 2" which has lots of learning tutorials.
Congratulations; you are now a bare-metal "Embedded Developer"!
To enter the "big boys league", move onto ARM Cortex boards.
Finally you get to "Embedded Linux" and become a "Master Super-Duper Embedded Developer" :-)