>I believe learning is not about using old technology and bit banging, it is
> about learning how to utilize the newest technology at you disposal, it's
> quicker, it's easier, and its a lot more forward compatible as your project
> evolves.  Don't waste your time with old technology, move forward and use
> components that are not or will not be discontinued soon.

Some agreement and some disagreement here. I agree that new tech is usually
a good thing. However there's nothing wrong with old tech, except that it
generally makes life harder. I believe that you need to learn both. But the
order is important. For example right here in this thread. If you want to do
serial, you should learn how to use the USART first. Learn how to do it in
hardware. Why? Because the vast majority of the time you'll only need one
port and the hardware supports it. 

However bit banging can be useful when you
need a second slow port for example. So don't dismiss it. Just don't emphesize 
it as the primary option.

>I understand that some people like to do things the hard way, but don't dismiss 
>the fact that Microchip now also offers Pic's with 2 Hardware USART's, thus 
>speeding up you development time.



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