Well I just decided to take my own advice and fully document something before diving in and building it. Here is what happened. 0. I ran around the lab like a madman collecting parts and was just getting started building the thing on-the-fly when I took a deep breath and stopped to do documentation first. 1. An autocad drawing of the schematic took 17 minutes, including instructions for use. 2. I realized that I needed to add a feature to it. This feature is the same feature that I had to add to the last version, and that I had forgotten to design-in in the first place. Therefore I saved myself time later, because by thinking the project through i build this feature in the beginning. This probably saved me 17 minutes in the long run. 3. The device will only be used by lab personnel, so a one-page Autoccad drawing is all that was needed for documentation. It will be folded up inside the case for easy access. 4. The outside of the device will have a copy of the instructions for use and will be clearly labeled as to what the heck it is. Full documentation (one sheet) is also stored in the proper folder in the proper network directory for anyone to find if I am hit by a truck tomorrow. Bad habits die hard. -- Lawrence Lile Wouter van Ooijen Sent by: pic microcontroller discussion list 01/21/2004 04:58 AM Please respond to pic microcontroller discussion list To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU cc: Subject: Re: [OT]: Re: Horowitz... On-the-fly design > What software do you use to create the state diagram? The gray matter inside mys kull. As for tooling: nothing wrong with a mug and a pen (to draw the circles). Seriously: you don't seem to have any idea what a state is, so do some reading. Any basic programming book should contain some hint as to what state/event diagrams are for. Wouter van Ooijen -- ------------------------------------------- Van Ooijen Technische Informatica: www.voti.nl consultancy, development, PICmicro products -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu