Surviving your first hardware course

A few honest notes from someone who nearly gave up in week three.

Read the datasheet first

Read the datasheet before you wire anything. The five minutes you save by skipping it will cost you an afternoon of debugging.

Version-control your hardware notes, not just your code. Wiring diagrams change, and you will want the history.

// Blink — the "hello world" of embedded
while (1) {
    gpio_toggle(LED_PIN);
    delay_ms(500);
}