Programming a controller in C is no harder than basic for an old VIC 20 :-)
It’s a LOT cheaper though.
You need a PC to run the free C compiler and IDE on and a <10.00 USB programmer to write data to the controller and that’s about it.
I’ve always wanted to take on an embedded project - we did some of this in grad school - I think we had microchips (?) and we flashed the instructions, had simulators etc.
The key for me would be coming up with a really cool idea for an application - i.e. I think execution would be the easy part - the tricky part would be figuring out a cool use for the technology.
I’m definitely interested - I write C code for a living so I know my if/elses and for loops.