do you disagree with Erik's original statement or with his not taking 2000 words to sugar coat it?

I have seen him pound the "Bible" and his distilled experience at new posters as well. Rarely have his answers been technically incorrect. Judging by his posting times he is using lunch or coffee breaks to post. He is attempting to cover as many posts as he can in as little time as possible.

I Get far more bothered by the number of answers posted after a request for additional input from the O/P has not been replied to.

This is a specialised forum you do not get here with a question with out having at least a lot of interest in how micro controllers work. With that much interest I expect that the new poster has at least read a few threads and thus will have a clue to the nature of posts and the line taken by the regular contributors.

At some point every one of these new posters needs to realise that understanding why things work is the foundation for making things that work correctly. When they post from a clear lack of such understanding the best that we can do is point them at the needed information then wait for them to assimilate it. The fact that they have left it until the last second before asking lies with them not us.
If the task at hand is schoolwork and costs them marks or even fails them outright it is usually not a bad thing. If they were suited to this field they would not get into such deep water. Probably they will fit better in a different slot.

Hobbyists are eager to learn and almost never stop asking new questions but then they are learning out of pure interest and have time to read all the things that they get pointed at.
Professionals never ask unsupported questions and are keenly aware of the cost of using the incorrect approach or part for the project at hand. They want clean terse pointers that work.

On the subject of using obsolete parts the only posters that can justify the “I must use XXXXX” are students or those trying to extend a near end of life product’s availability. I hope that the teachers do inform the students that the real world is far advanced from what the material at hand teaches.

All others should be thankful that they get pointed at current parts and practices. It gets more difficult to support older technology every day so why encourage anyone to try unless they have no alternative.

We all get to this site through the internet. We all have computers. It is hard to believe that location makes getting parts impossible - slow and perhaps a little costly but after 35 years in this field I have yet to see a project where the cost of components was worth mentioning in the over all cost of development of a product . So pay the up front price and save a lot of time and discouraging problems.

That is the exact reverse of production. There if the design is good the only places to cut costs are in assembly techniques or component costs. Assuring Availability of needed parts is part of the design process but obtaining the needed parts cost effectively is in the domain of production.
Terry