John Chung wrote:
> I do understand the importance of not floating the pins but I am
> not sure of your suggestion:
>
>> If you have a little extra space, bring the unused pins out
>> to pads and
>> still make sure they are driven.
>
> Would the pin be tied to ground? If it's just a pad by itself I am not
> sure why would this be any advantage. Any suggestion?

The pad is for later when you wish you had another line hooked up to some
thingy.  It's a lot easier to rework the board if a pad is there.  It can
also be useful as a test point during continued development and debugging.
You could hook a LED up to it, or watch it on a scope.  Holding a scope
probe on a PIC pin can be tricky, but with a thru hole pad, you just stick
the tip of the probe thru the hole.


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