It's difficult for me to recommend a "Hello World" type introduction to electronics and microcontrollers, since I had 4 years of learning it in a university (obviously the budget is quite a bit different). I would say find some hobby you are interested in that uses LED's and switches, and find a tutorial on how to build that component. What you will find is that depending on the application, a simple button can be a lot more involved than you may expect.
For instance, if you played guitar, you could learn to make a footswitch that has LED's to tell you what channel you're on. But in this case, you'd have to look up the specs for your amp to see what type of resistance and impedance (if any) the amp expects from that channel. Furthermore, does it expect an active high or an active low signal, do you need to involve any BJT's (bi-polar junction transistors are common in simple electronics) or FET's?
Anyway, I'll not get into too much depth, because depending on what you're trying to accomplish, this may be overkill. That said, once you start building, Digikey is your friend!
Also, I hate to promote this book, because I really disliked the professor that wrote this (seriously, one of my least favorite classes ever), but his book really does answer any possible electronics question you'll probably ever have (though, again, it's probably a bit overkill).
If you have any specific questions during your project, feel free to give me a shout. Admittedly, microcontrollers aren't my specialty, but I am an ME/EE.
For instance, if you played guitar, you could learn to make a footswitch that has LED's to tell you what channel you're on. But in this case, you'd have to look up the specs for your amp to see what type of resistance and impedance (if any) the amp expects from that channel. Furthermore, does it expect an active high or an active low signal, do you need to involve any BJT's (bi-polar junction transistors are common in simple electronics) or FET's?
Anyway, I'll not get into too much depth, because depending on what you're trying to accomplish, this may be overkill. That said, once you start building, Digikey is your friend!
http://www.digikey.com/
Also, I hate to promote this book, because I really disliked the professor that wrote this (seriously, one of my least favorite classes ever), but his book really does answer any possible electronics question you'll probably ever have (though, again, it's probably a bit overkill).
http://www.amazon.com/Electromagnetic-Compatibility-Handbook...
If you have any specific questions during your project, feel free to give me a shout. Admittedly, microcontrollers aren't my specialty, but I am an ME/EE.