I would not call myself a "programmer" per se. However, I spent this last academic year studying electronics and took two courses on microcontrollers. We used the 68HC11. I would personally recommend that you take the time to learn how to program in assembler (as11 in this case). The tools are usually free, and the code is MUCH smaller than C code when compiled. This is a major issue if your program is large and your memory space small. Assember is actually simple enough to learn, the only thing is you'll have to learn a lot about the hardware along the way. This is an excellent approach if you intend to use microcontrollers often. It pays to understand the hardware at that level.
The book I used in college was quite good and I liked it.:
MC68HC11: An Introduction
Software and Hardware Interfacing
2nd edition
Huang
ISBN 07668-1600-1
You would do well to have an evaluation board to learn with, if you don't already have one. There are a great many resources online and you can find them if you simply Google the MC68HC11. If you have time, take a course. It is invaluable to have a person tutoring you. The learning takes place much faster.
Also look into the PIC micro's (http://www.microchip.com) as they are tremendously popular, have over 2000 different versions, and enjoy perhaps the greatest support online of all MCU's.
I don't think I'll have the time to actually help you. I'm sorry. I've been laid-off and I am now studying Energy Systems Engineering full-time at college. I don't have time to breathe between the homework, the exams, and my family. I would, however, like to hear how you are doing as time goes by. I have a strong interest in injecting hydrogen into internal combustion engines and I will be designing my own hardware to do this someday. I simply have to concentrate on my studies for now.
I hope this has been of some help.
Good luck, and feel free to stay in touch.
Jeff
