Teach yourself kit on how to use capacitors and resistors

[Yportne]

So i decided to get this teach yourself kit on how to use capacitors and resistors and a stamp chip or something like that. Its working great and I'm making LED's flash and stuff...but it uses a serial interface to load the program I make into the stamp.

My question is, if i have a real thing made without using a breadboard then how to I get the program loaded onto the chip? also does each micro-controller have its own software to make programs?

P.S. anyone know where I can buy a bigger breadboard? this one was designed specifically for this kit...i kinda want a big one to start a cooler project :)

 

[negitron]

Depends on the microcontroller, but in general most of the mid- to high-end ones support ICSP (in-circuit serial programming). To use this, you include some form of wire-to-board connector, such as a pin header or RJ-type modular jack, with traces going to the pins required for ICSP programming (typically 5 or 6 pins). You'll also need a programmer capable of ICSP programming.

 

[Yportne]

Whats the difference between a PIC programmer and a ICSP programmer

 

[negitron]

PIC is a specific brand of microcontroller. A programmer for PIC uCs may or may not support ICSP programming.

 

[vk6kro]

We had a very similar thread a couple of weeks ago.

You might like to click on this:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=331073
and read through it.

Picaxe chips are the obvious choice and the language is almost identical to Stamp but at a fraction of the cost.
They do on-board proramming with a simple cable.

There are other suggestions in that thread, too.