I always Wanted to get into programming embedded systems. I took a look at parallax's website and seen there Basic Stamp 2 Modules. They Seem awesome, but what I want to know is are they practical to learn and start out on embedded systems. PBASIC seems pretty cool, but I know C and some x86 Assembly.
Please post comments
I was checking out there Basic II Discovery Kit with the What is a microcontroller pack
Yup, in fact, Basic Stamps contain a PIC, it's just used in an unconventional way (so it's not all that practical of experience), at least 10x slower, and costs 20x too much.
The BASIC STAMP was a very clever device for it's time, but it's time was a LONG time ago. Now they are far too expensive for far too low a performance - for the cost of a couple of STAMP's you can buy a BASIC compiler, and make as many circuits as you want, which will run many times faster.
However, (in my opinion!) you should have a decent working knowledge of PIC assembler to use a compiler effectively, I suggest you have a look at my PIC tutorials.