Sean asked:

>
>Can someone please explain why a resistor is needed and how it could matter
>where it was placed?
>
>I could see that the resistor will limit the current which is charging up
>the gate,but how this would be likely to hurt either the PIC or the FET I
>don't really understand.
>

  a) PIC can only supply 25mA/pin within rating. Not good to exceed
     even for milliseconds; can screw up other on-chip processes.

  b) real circuits are reactive and contain distributed C, L.

  Reg