Differences of opinion! I think simpler is better to start with. After blink a Led on the '84, the student finds out it will work with 16f628. 3 chips are plenty to start with, it isn't a big investment. The resources of the 18F chips make me think of them as a minicomputer rather than a micro. The programming structure in the square 1 books is very poor. But it serves to teach the basic hardware. The Peatman book/Lab is more than a normal Senior EE load. John Ferrell http://DixieNC.US ----- Original Message ----- From: "Byron A Jeff" To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 9:15 AM Subject: Re: [PIC] - Book Reccomendations for beggining PIC Programming > On Thu, Apr 21, 2005 at 03:36:54PM -0400, John Ferrell wrote: >> On the web: >> http://www.amqrp.org/elmer160/ >> The Square 1 books, Amazon.com or http://www.sq-1.com/ >> >> I think the beginner is best off by picking either a 16F84 or 16F628 for >> several projects before moving up or down. > > John, there's no or in the list above, John McDonald notwithstanding. > > Pick the more fully featured part. In the list above the part should be > the 16F88. > > My logic on the subject hasn't changed. While each of the chips can do > the basics (blink an LED, read a switch, etc.) once you start to do > something real, then the lack of hardware of the smaller chips becomes > apparent. > > I'd like to see a book with a "use the hardware first" mentality. Then > for each, it should have an alternatives section that shows how to do it > in software. So have a hardware UART section, then the bit banged software > UART. Then a hardware ADC followed by a software technique. Then hardware > PWM followed by doing it in software. > > In each case motivate the hardware with a real world problem, show how to > use the hardware to solve the problem, give the software alternative, then > reinforce that you use the hardware first, and only utilize the software > when > you run out of hardware resources (i.e. need 2 UARTS). As the book > progresses > it should show how to use techniques such as main event loop polling and > interrupts to manage multiple services at the same time as most real > applications. > > A book that starts with the basics and progresses to early intermediate > with a hardware first basis would certainly be the ticket. > > BAJ > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist