This book helps readers to build smart electronics projects with the inexpensive, simple-to-use, surprisingly powerful Basic Stamp. It includes Scott Edwards' original "Stamp Applications" columns from "Nuts & Volts" magazine! If you want to take advantage of the popular PIC Microcontroller for your electronics projects, but are intimidated by the programming involved, your worries are over.This guide gives you a comprehensive tutorial on the easy-to-use Basic Stamp single-board computer, which runs a PIC Microcontroller, and doesn't require you to do any assembly language programming. Written by the author of the widely read "Stamp Applications" column for "Nuts & Volts" magazine, "Programming and Customizing the Basic Stamp Computer" offers you: a primer on basic electronics - including reading schematics, identifying components, and constructing prototypes; thorough yet accessible coverage of both Basic Stamp I and II - from reading and understanding Basic programs, to PBasic toolboxes, to detailed applications; a Basic Stamp quick reference guide; 12 complete projects that demonstrate various Basic Stamp applications and allow you to put your new knowledge to work; and, an accompanying CD that provides all the software tools you need to begin developing PIC applications on your own.With the range of skills you'll develop using this guide, you'll see why it can be easier to build sophisticated projects with microcontrollers than with conventional electronic parts - and even more fun! The features new in this edition include: coverage of Stamp-specific and Stamp-friendly peripheral devices; a chapter on applying the BS2-SX; and a bonus project.