On Mon, 21 Aug 2000, Dan Michaels wrote:

> And this is not OT - this is gut-level programming philosophy.
> If you don't care about the #cycles, PIC has no advantage over
> using other microcontrollers, like 6805/8051.

I have to respectfully disagree on this point.  The PIC has many
advantages over a lot of other microcontrollers.  I *don't* particularly
care about the number of cycles in the vast majority of cases, but I still
use PICs exclusively now because of a combination of:

High functional integration.  I recently designed a display system that
multiplexes a large number of LEDs *and* provides an analog brightness
control, all while managing a serial data stream.  One chip, one xtal.  No
external logic.

Low cost, high availability - I have no trouble locating nearly any PIC
variant I need at under US$10.  There3 are 805x versions with good
integration, but they're either hard to find, hard to buy in small
quantities, or both.

Tool availability - I bought a C compiler for $100 and a programmer for
$69, and could have done either one cheaper.  I can work in DOS, Win95/8,
NT, or Linux.  Other than C, every bit of software I require is free.

Scalability - I can write code for a 12C508 and re-use this same code on
an 'F877 if I need to.  There is a range of processors extending from
bare-minimum, dirt-cheap 8-pin to some pretty large processors.  The
instruction set is the same, or so close as to make code migration
trivial.

I used to play with 8748 and 8051 MPUs a lot.  I bought a PIC programmer
and 16C711/JW, which sat for two years while I tried to get around to
doing something with them.  Since I started learning how to use the PIC,
I've never once looked back and said, "Gee, this would be a good place to
use an 8052 instead".  The PIC just has too many other advantages.

Dale
---
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."
                -- Isaac Asimov

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