Programming & Customizing the Multicore Propeller Microcontroller (which I'll abbreviate in this review as 'Programming & Customizing') is one of the more recent Propeller Programming books to come out. With almost 500 pages of content, I'll take a look at what you get and help you decide if it's a worthwhile addition to your library.

Programming & Customizing the Multicore Propeller Microcontroller ISBN 978-0-07-166450-9, Paperback, 496 pages Published by McGraw Hill Written by Shane Avery, Chip Gracey, Vern Graner, Martin Hebel, Joshua Hintze, Andre LaMothe, Andy Lindsay, Jeff Martin, and Hanno Sander Price: $31 ($28 eBook) available at Amazon

The structure

The book is 500 pages and broken into 12 chapters. Chapters could be placed into 2 categories;

1 – General Programing

Chapters 1-4 help give you the skills you'll need for every project you do;

• Chapter 1: Multicore explained
• Chapter 2: Intro to Spin
• Chapter 3: Multicore debugging
• Chapter 4: Sensors

Chapter 1 gives you an overview of multicore and more detail on how it's implemented on the Propeller. Chapter 2 is a step-by-step introduction of Spin, it's similar to the Spin tutorial in the Propeller Manual. Readers who have never written any Propeller code will find it helpful.

Debugging in a multicore environment is a little different than in a single core microcontroller and chapter 3 identifies common sources of bugs, tips to avoid them, along with a survey of debugging tools. Chapter 4 reviews using sensors with the Propeller, from pushbuttons to R/C decay & peripherals.

Plenty of graphics & 
illustrations

The tone for these 4 chapters is 'casual programmer', not too technical or formal and easy to read. There are code samples, but they're well balanced with code and discussion. I especially found chapter 3 helpful, and the discussion on sensors in chapter 4 answer many of the questions beginners inevitably ask.

2 — Projects

Chapters 5-12 are the bulk of the book & each chapter reviews a specific project. The chapters are;

• Chapter 5: Xbee
• Chapter 6: Balancing Robot
• Chapter 7: Computer Vision
• Chapter 8: Ethernet
• Chapter 9: GPS & datalogging
• Chapter 10: Remote Keyboard
• Chapter 11: HVAC control
• Chapter 12: Speech

If you're doing something covered in the chapters above, you'll find value in the chapter. I found the Xbee chapter perfect for understanding Xbee – it includes a list AT commands, overview of the architecture and a little boebot project putting everything together. The chapter on GPS & datalogging was fun; it includes a discussion of the code and programming along with giving you an understanding of the science involved. HVAC focuses on the physical design process, not the code, and includes topics like scalability, and scale modeling apply to any project you want to bring into the real world.

But it feels that balancing robots, remote keyboards, and computer vision are hard to cover in a single chapter. There are less code samples and more discussion – I think beginners will still find value in reading the discussion to understand the concepts, but they'll find it tough to follow and understand all the details of implementation.

My favorite chapter was speech. It's one of those broad topics, but it gave me a 'programmer's perspective' that was missing from Wikipedia entries and got me thinking about how to use the approaches described in my own audio experiments.

Read a sample chapter  on networking

Is it for you?

The volume of Propeller learning materials is really starting to grow, so where does Programming & Customizing fit in?

If you've never programmed before, Programming & Customizing works well as a compliment to the Propeller Manual (full pdf  ) and online resources, but not a substitute. Chapter 3 and 4 on debugging and sensors apply to every project you'll do.

If you've already got a feel for Spin, this book works well if you're doing something covered in one of the project chapters.

All propeller programmers can benefit from Chapters 3 and 4 (debugging and sensors) – it applies to every project you do and it's a hightlight of the book.

Complaints – Expensive. Some chapters will be tough for beginners to completely follow. Could have used more discussion on using counters and video output.

Nice Stuff – plenty of discussion with the code. 'Programmer casual' writing style. Diverse selection of projects.

VERDICT
'Programming & Customizing' believes it's more fun to learn by example and it succeeds.

Great if – You're learning Spin and want something to complement the Propeller Manual. You're doing something discussed in one of the project chapters. You want to better understand design approaches.