On Wed, 2010-06-02 at 20:36 -0400, Adam Field wrote:

> As an aside, why use the 16F84 at all? It is expensive, old, and
> doesn't really have any peripherals. There are much better and cheaper
> PICs out there like the 16F628A as one example. Use the product search
> on Microchip's site and you'll see what I mean.
> 

As a relative newbie myself, I think that the choice of the 16F84 is
easily answered by the books commonly available or the tutorials online.
A very large percentage of these tutorials are designed around the 16F84
because it is supposedly 'easier' for a newcomer to understand.  Search
online and there are surprisingly few beginning tutorials built around
18F series high-end cores.

Perhaps to the 16F84's credit is that it has a relatively easy datasheet
to navigate.  Navigating 400 page datasheets definitely tend to be a bit
overwhelming for a newbie, especially if one is not exactly sure of the
proper terminology of what they're looking for.

Joe


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