>>1.  I use a compiler, because I think coding in assembler is silly
>>(for what I need to do, and 99% of what other people need to do)
>
>That's OK. Who cares? _I_ don't. But I personally don't use
>higher-level languages myself, for what I do, ASM is required.

Well that is a case of horses for courses - use what is best for the job.


>>2.  I often (ok, usually) don't comment my code
>
>You need to start.

Agreed. Commenting is most important when you get to the debugging stage,
especially if you need to come back later to alter something.


>>3.  I don't own an oscilloscope (although I do own a logic analyzer)
>
>Just buy a used one from military surplus.

Or ebay. I suspect that having an oscilloscope available would have helped
solve this particular problem by now.


>>4.  I built a project with an external crystal for a real-time clock,
>>and I didn't use external capacitors
>
>Use ceramic resonators, they have caps built-in.

Depending on the accuracy you need, you might get away without caps. But
don't come crying to us when the oscillator does not work. These things are
specified for a reason. As some of the contributors on this list point out,
they are not here to help when you do silly things outside of specification.


>>5.  I don't use decoupling capacitors on my breadboard experiments
>
>Now, you're a lucky guy. Would you be available for a trip to LasVegas with
me?

again this is just plain silly. There are good sound reasons for using
these. If you do not use them then how do you expect your breadboard to be
useable?


>>6.  I don't know resistor color codes by heart.  I have a gadget from
>>Radio Shack that tells them to me
>
>I'm colorblind. I have to ask my wife what the colors are. SHE uses the
>gadget from Radio Shack.

Or use a DMM - but this project is SMT, and SMT resistors do not use colour
codes (unless you use those horrible mini-melf ones that roll off the PCB
before you can solder them). The ones I have a problem with are the space
certified ones which are not marked for value, or ceramic capacitors which
no manufacturer seems to mark for value for some unknown reason.


>>7.  I once built a PIC project that ran at 6.5 V, without a voltage
>>regulator
>
>Me, too! It worked, too.

But be prepared to let the magic smoke out :))


>>8.  I interface with the serial port without a MAX232 chip
>
>Well it works on SOME PCs, others, no..

Can be done with suitable precautions, but again you need to know what your
doing and why.


>>9.  I heat up my PCB developer solution, even though you are not
>>supposed to
>
>I never fuss with the stuff, it stains my fingers.

I find it just as easy to get prototype ones made by a board house - saves
all the hassles of quality, plated through holes - and provides pads for
bypass capacitors.


>>10. I don't use a diode on MCLR
>
>I don't either. Never have. Never had a problem, either.
>
>There may be more, but that is all I can think of now.  If you guys want
>to kick me off the piclist, I'll understand....

You would be better off getting the idiosyncrasies sorted to get the project
back on track.

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