-------------------------------------------------- From: "David Duffy (AVD)" Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 4:03 AM To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." Subject: Re: [PIC] 18F45K20 newbie help > On 11/08/2010 12:38 PM, Oli Glaser wrote: >> Personally to start with I would give the C18 and Hi-Tech trial >> versions a >> go, and see which you like best, as you can use them straight from MPLAB= =20 >> and >> use your PicKit3 to program/debug with (you may have both versions=20 >> already >> installed depending on the options you selected when installing MPLAB). >> Don't start the trial until you intend to use it a lot then you can=20 >> plenty >> of practice with the full version in, and they are both still very usefu= l >> afterwards too for stuff where speed and size is not *hugely* important. >> > > Thanks for that Oli. I might cruise the 'net for some simple PIC C > projects and see if it makes any sense to me. Sometimes certain paths > don't seem so bad after you've travelled part way down a couple of > times. :-) > > I'm quite sure that my productivity would benefit from using a HLL with > PICs. The inertia of what you're comfortable with can be quite > significant sometimes. I almost certainly have some bad programming > habits to "un-learn" too! > > Working in the electronics industry is great for diversity, but the > flip-side is that there's never enough time to learn as much as you'd > like about all avenues. Maybe learning and using C will help in some > small way. > David... Yes, you're right - I find it's just the initial few steps where you are=20 faced with a seemingly incomprehensible pile of theory/information/acronyms= =20 etc that seems difficult, but if you apply yourself logically and thoroughl= y=20 (e.g. not skipping things in a hurry to get where you want to be - this=20 usually slows you down in the long run) I find it passes quite quickly. To= =20 take USB as a random example, the 2.0 specification is about 600 pages long= ,=20 so I can understand why some people may choose to stick with "comfortable"= =20 RS232, even though it's practically obsolete on PCs now. With electronics in particular as I'm sure you have noticed one has to=20 constantly updating their knowledge to stay ahead of the game, now I am=20 comfortable with USB 2.0 out comes USB 3.0 to learn :-) Anyway as far as C is concerned, if you are planning to use PICs quite a=20 bit, especially the medium->higher level ones, then I think learning C will= =20 really open things up for you in a *big* way. If you upgrade to the PIC32=20 then you will definitely need it as it was designed for C. Also loads of=20 other MCUs use C. Although it's a pretty complex language overall you can start writing usabl= e=20 stuff with it quite quickly. I would grab the C18 (or Hitech) manual and an= y=20 basic C book (something like C for dummies or similar) to get going with,=20 and the The C Programming language by Kernighan & Ritchie for reference.=20 Read a little bit to start with, then just dive in (the main thing is to ge= t=20 some practical experience at first) and before you know it you will be=20 writing half decent stuff and be glad you made the effort. Other bonuses of the universality of C are if you ever want to learn C++ an= d=20 C# for PC side programs then you will have a solid foundation to build from= .. Good luck with it all whatever paths you take.. :-) =20 --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .