Thread: Languages used in Electrical Engineering

I know this may have been asked or spoken about in the past, but i have a serious issue with C. In high school, i took programming and learned pascal, but that was a while ago. A couple years ago i learned C++ and i learned a few things but not a lot. Right now i'm taking C in college and i find it to be extremely hard or at least that's how my professor is making it. Once i get my EE degree i would like to work on my own projects besides what i would be doing at work and possibly even invent something, but i feel hindered because of the difficulty of C. And it's not that i can't program, but the programs we're assigned seem so useless and overly complicated. Once i get out of this class, which is the worst ........ ever, i want to learn another language at my own pace and doing things that are useful. Any advice on what i should learn? something that is applied in EE and can do as much as C without the uber complicartions? i feel my confidence has goone down because of this class lol i'm not even joking i feel like i'm gonna be a lousy EE if i dont master it but i know i won't so i need another solution. I woul appreciate advice from people that are actually EE and know about the matter, thank you.

Calm down and start C or C++ from scratch, following a good book and with a good compiler. Nothing is too complicated if you just try.

And practice, practice, practice. Most of the programs I've ever written were "useless" - but for the fact that I gained experience in the language, improved my understanding of it, and have gained the skills necessary to write good "real" programs.

If you want to invent something, then microcontrollers might be your best bet. Which means an understanding of 'C' and (at least for me personally) assembly language. My job now involves both circuit board design and coding of embedded devices. And I can do some pretty nifty stuff. But more importantly is the stuff I don't do for work, but do at home in my own little lab for enjoyment. Stick with it, and if you're really driven to create electric circuits, your motivation should carry you through.

tbh, it sounds like your attitude is holding you back more than anything else. i say this not as a slight against you, but as something i recognize in myself. just commit to solving the problem, let go of how annoying things are, and you'll undoubtedly find it's not so 'over complicated' after all.

I am a 4th year electrical engineering student.

There is NO WAY you can do electrical engineering without C/C++. On PC you have a few more choices because many languages are supported. On embedded systems, manufacturers don't have resources to support multiple languages. They usually just pick one to support. The one that everyone knows and uses - C.

On embedded systems it's C for lower end stuff, or C++ on higher end microcontrollers like ARM7/Cortex. Assembly is supported, too, but it's impractical to write everything in assembly. On PC you have a little more choices, but C/C++ is still the most popular by far (meaning, you'll find that many libraries are only available for C/C++).

You can do component-level electrical engineering (schematics and PCB design), but at this age, it would be very foolish to do that since it's already dying. Those skills are very useful to have, but you don't want them to be the only skills you have. All the exciting stuff happening now is in digital or chip scale. Everything else (robotics, control, telecom, instrumentation, signal processing) require programming.

Just learn it. It's not difficult. You'll get over it.

To my horror I read, Java is now used in Embedded system.
I would guess a likely item to find Java in is an cable set-top box.
Edit: I read a ad for a MCU that supported Embedded dotnet framework.

Tim S.

I agree with the first reply.... just calm down and try taking C at a slower pace. C/C++ are definitely still the most heavily used programming languages in the embedded space. And even if I could suggest an alternative, I don't think there'd be any language that can do what C doesn't without being somewhat complicated.
And yeah, you do have to write a lot lot lot of code before you're comfortable with it, even if they're frustrating convoluted exercises. But C is at least really close to the hardware -- if you learn assembly language at the same time you can bolster C knowledge holes by just looking at the disassembly. C++ is a bit harder to match up, and Java... is just magic and mysteries.

For what it's worth - I wouldn't get long term demoralised about your shortcomings as a programmer: I know a fair few accomplished electronics engineers (I know it's not the same, but similarish) who loathe software and manage to completely avoid it, and when they do write code, it's not great. I guess that works better in a corporate environment than working for yourself though.

C can be a bit daunting but I don't reckon you've got a choice, sorry! Stick at it and believe me it'll get easier.