Digital Electronics and Logic

How computers represent numbers. Binary, hexadecimal, BCD, and two’s complement signed integers. Read register values in hex and understand what each bit controls.

AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR. Truth tables, De Morgan’s theorems, and simplification. See how bitwise C operators map directly to physical gates.

Multiplexers, decoders, adders, flip-flops, shift registers, and counters. These are the building blocks of every peripheral inside your MCU.

How SRAM, Flash, and EEPROM store data. How SPI, I2C, and UART work at the wire level. How ADCs convert analog voltages to digital values. How the CPU fetches and executes your instructions.

Binary, Hex, and Number Systems. Count in binary and hexadecimal, convert between bases, understand BCD and two’s complement. Learn to read MCU register values in hex and know what each bit means. Practical: Convert register values, decode GPIO configuration bits.

Logic Gates and Boolean Algebra. Build AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR circuits with 74HC series ICs. Verify truth tables with LEDs. Apply De Morgan’s theorems and simplify Boolean expressions. Practical: Wire logic gates on a breadboard, verify outputs with LEDs.

Combinational Logic: Multiplexers, Decoders, Adders. Build multiplexers, decoders, encoders, and adders from gates. Understand how these circuits form the foundation of address decoding and arithmetic in a CPU. Practical: Build a 4-to-1 mux and a 2-bit adder on a breadboard.

Flip-Flops, Latches, and Registers. Move from combinational to sequential logic. SR latches, D flip-flops, JK flip-flops, shift registers, and parallel load registers. Drive 8 LEDs from 3 MCU pins using a 74HC595. Practical: Build a shift register LED driver with the 74HC595.

Counters, Timers, and Frequency Dividers. Build ripple and synchronous counters, up/down counters, and frequency dividers. See how the timer/counter peripherals inside your MCU work at the gate level. Practical: Build a 4-bit binary counter with LEDs, divide a clock signal.

Memory: SRAM, Flash, EEPROM. Understand how SRAM cells store bits, how Flash uses floating gates, and how EEPROM provides byte-level erase. Explore address buses, data buses, and memory maps. Practical: Read an MCU memory map and locate peripheral registers.

Bus Architecture and Communication Interfaces. See SPI, I2C, and UART at the signal level. Understand clock polarity, data framing, acknowledge bits, and baud rates. Parallel vs serial bus tradeoffs. Practical: Trace SPI/I2C/UART signals with a logic analyzer or oscilloscope.

ADC and DAC Fundamentals. Learn successive approximation ADC, resolution, quantization error, and the Nyquist sampling theorem. Explore R-2R ladder DACs and PWM as a pseudo-DAC. Practical: Calculate ADC resolution and quantization error for real sensors.

Introduction to Microcontroller Architecture. Von Neumann vs Harvard, the ALU, registers, stack, program counter, and interrupt vector table. Trace what happens when you write int x = 5; down to the assembly level. Practical: Map C code to assembly instructions, locate GPIO registers in memory.

Start here for your first embedded programming course. 8-bit AVR, direct register access, and foundational projects.

Continue here for 32-bit ARM Cortex-M programming with HAL and register-level access.

WiFi and Bluetooth projects with the ESP32 using the ESP-IDF framework.

RP2040 dual-core projects with PIO state machines and the Pico SDK.