Ken Pergola wrote:
> There was a recent discussion on the Microchip forum regarding
> undocumented instructions (i.e. TRAP) that are decoded by MPLAB.
>
> ...
>
> Sounds interesting and intriguing...did you happen to catch that
> lecture? I wonder if it applies to the dsPICs as well.

Interesting.  This is the first I heard about it, so I guess I didn't go to
that lecture at Masters.

Too bad, because Masters was largely a waste of time.  I did have one really
great class on motor control (not taught by a Microchip person).  I went to
Masters because it was a requirement of the "trained for dsPIC" consultant
program.  However, there was very little dsPIC information that wasn't
available in the manual.  I guess they figure nobody reads the manuals
anymore, but I do.

In one class on "programming for reliability" (or something like that) the
instructor was spousing techniques that seemed like voodoo to me.  In fact,
it seemed likely that his methods would decrease reliability, not increase
it.  When pressed about results, he admitted he had never even simulated any
of his proposed methods.  He basically just made up stuff that seemed
reasonable to him without doing the analisys that would have showed it
wasn't.  I kinda felt sorry for the guy when several people in class ganged
up on him...   Naaah.

In another class a Microchip instructor was mixing up terms like energy,
power, and voltage.  I think this was because these were a little muddled in
his own mind and he was in way over his head.  This guy had apparently
learned a bunch of rules of thumb circuit board layout techniques, but
didn't understand how they really worked, and therefore didn't understand in
what cases they don't work.  It was almost comical watching him trying to
explain the "physics" behind his techniques (which were largely reasonable).

The best part about Masters was that it gave me an opportunity to explore
Arizona for a few days afterwards.

Actually I shouldn't say too many bad things about Masters.  I may be
teaching a course there next time on power factor correction and related
topics.


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