Picaxe book

[Innes]

As mentioned in another thread, my Picaxe skills are quite rusty, and my electronic skills are very rusty.

I'm wondering if there is any benefit to getting the book, Programming & Customizing the PICAXE Microcontroller, or am I likely to learn as much by reading all the manuals, forums and other Internet references. I often find it to be the case that books like this having 'nothing new' in them. I would normally have a read of the book in question, but of course, it is not to be found in book shops, and the Amazon, 'search inside' feature only shows the introduction (rather than the 'meat') and the index does not, of course, provide any indication as to the quality and style of the contents.

Is it worth £20 (inc delivery), or are there perhaps other Picaxe books worth looking at? I'd be grateful for suggestions or comments.

Thanks,
I

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Get the book its worth every penny.

Richard

 

[manuka]

Welcome! It really depends on your level of expertise, but David's book is certainly worth having on hand. Many find it too "solid" however,with a lack of web support for code downloads annoying. I'm continually considering writing an enthusiastic schools level booklet myself in fact- see => http://picaxe.orconhosting.net.nz/booklet.htm Stan

 

[leftyretro]

Having never had a copy of the book I can't really comment on it but I would find it hard to think that with using the help manuals in the program editor and with access to this forum you already know about, that you should be able to get by just fine as so many others have. Just start blinking LED's and before you know it you can write your own book.

Lefty

 

[westaust55]

I do not have the mentioned book:
"Programming & Customizing the PICAXE Microcontroller"

but have seen the author's book
"Programming & Customizing the PIC Microcontroller"
and a couple of similar books.

IMHO, if you read the datasheets and manuals from the component suppliers that is all you really need. Much of the data in the other books is just a rehash and presented in a different format .

In the case of the PIC and PICAXE books available out there, many of the example programs are very similar to those in the Rev Ed manuals.

I would suggest start by reading the Rev Ed PICAXE manuals and go from there.

Rev Ed don't write their manuals just for the heck of it. They are there to get you going. Others write books with a different slant but the vast majority of the information is the same as the item manufacturers own data.

If you get stuck, then there is this forum run by Rev Ed where others can help you.

 

[moxhamj]

The three picaxe help manuals (in help in the program) are amazingly clear and well written. They might not look anything special but they are in comparison with so many other things written for microcontrollers.

If you have a spare hour, just skim read through all the manuals. You don't have to understand every instruction, but it helps to know what instructions are out there and roughly what picaxe can do. For example, down the bottom of manual 3 is all the code and instructions for driving displays. You may not want a display right now, but it helps to know that if you did want one, you could just follow those instructions and get it working fairly easily.

I'm sure the books are great. But I've never needed anything other than those three manuals.

 

[gengis]

I have "Programming & Customizing the PIC Microcontroller" by David Lincoln

Its worth is more along the lines of reading to understand pics in general - as a reference to get picaxe projects working it is almost useless. I could have saved money by just printing out the sheets of the manual that I refer to frequently.

I might have a better opinion of the book if the table of contents matched the contents. After ~ page 30 the page number they say to go to is invariably wrong and I have to hunt higher numbers looking for what should be there. Sometimes I don't find it at all.

Could just be my copy . . .

 

[westaust55]

Innes was specifically asking about the book titled
"Programming & Customizing the PICAXE Microcontroller".

While the book would be useful wrt the PICAXE from what I have seen in the PIC applicable book and others of similar ilk, as I said before, IMHO starting with the Rev_Ed documentation will go a long way to getting a newbie started.

 

[alpacaman]

I have the book and I, for the most part, like it. It has some code examples which are very useful and are not in the manuals.

Some of the examples aren't any different than what's in the manual, but others are.

Personally, I'm glad I bought, which I can't say for a lot of the books.

However, like Flloby said earlier, the table of contents does not match the content. Also, one of the Picaxe pinouts is showing the wrong chip.

 

[Andrew Cowan]

It has a great section on shift registers. I bought it when I was already good at using PICAXE, but it seems a good book.

Andrew

 

[Innes]

Thanks everyone; I think the general consensus is that it is a good book, but the freely available materials and forum help are more than adequate. If two people are saying that the index is incorrect, then that does not bode well; as far as I am concerned, a technical book is only as good as its index.

Thanks,
I

 

[esmith]

I'm a newbie with the Picaxe but read all three manuals which I found to be very good. I ordered the book also and have it at home. I agree it does not really cover anything new but it does give you different variations and examples so you can get a clearer picture of everything from looking at it from multiple angles.

I was slightly disappointed to learn after the book arrived that it does not cover X1 series or a few of the other more recent variations of the picaxe line but this is fairly minor.

I hate bringing the laptop to the bathroo.... sorry, my study, as it causes the circulation in my legs to stop after the first hour or so, so I leave the book in there for perusing during my "Study Breaks"

The book was worth it for me.

-eSmith.

 

[westaust55]

Thanks everyone; I think the general consensus is that it is a good book, but the freely available materials and forum help are more than adequate. If two people are saying that the index is incorrect, then that does not bode well; as far as I am concerned, a technical book is only as good as its index.

Thanks,
I

Believe you are making the right decision.
The book would be a major task to rewrite to keep up to date whereas Rev_ed do make frequent updates to their manuals to both cover new devices and correct the inevitable typo errors.