I love program in 8051.
Yeah, well do embedded software for 30 years and see how much you 'love' it.
"ooooh, aahhhh, the LED blinked."
--Cpt. Vince Foster 2nd Cannon Place Fort Marcy Park, VA
There can be times when you do love that little blinking LED, after having fought a couple of days to get a memory controller correctly initialized while at the same time not being 100% convinced if the problem is caused by hardware, software or the wetware behind the keyboard.
The more 'exciting' part is when you watch a terrorist get blown into a spray of goo because "it worked."
Captain, are you trying to give good old Jack a heart attack of what?! :-)
I used the word 'terrorist' instead of 'kids and parents and innocent people in a crowded marketplace' (kind of like what *those* terrorists enjoy doing), so even a fish would have a hard time having a 'heart attack' with my use of 'spray of goo' as being 'exciting.'
Come to think of it, do sardines even have a heart? (sorry... a bit mean & off-base there).
But yes, it all starts with that Stupid Blinking LED.
After so many years of it, it gets kind of old when I "code me up a mini-van" (love that Dilbert/Scott Adams quote) and see that one of a zillion routines I've written does indeed work. Yet, if it doesn't then ... well you know how it is.
Like some of us on this forum, I can't just point my finger at the Electrical Engineer because I'm also the one who did that work. Its great to get ALL of the blame when it doesn't work.
The up-side? ...that always depends upon where or who you are working for. So make sure you are working at a place where they appreciate it when 'it' does work.
If you are working at a place that has no clue or doesn't appreciate your good work, GET THE _ OUT OF THERE and work for a place that does. ASAP.
Take care.