On 03/07/2011 08:42, V G wrote:
> No. It's not worth it. You can learn C pretty much anywhere, but best
> learned alone, by yourself.
Well, a good teacher or mentor or being pointed to good material always=20
helps
> I believe the programming language, as in the syntax itself is pretty
> simple. The annoying part is learning how to use different frameworks and
> libraries, but that won't be a problem for PIC C programming, if that's w=
hat
> you're looking into.

100% agree on that.

Also which legacy things should NOT be used.

Re: non-core syntax for PIC 16F/18F:
A C program for PIC16F/18F (the "higher" PICs IMO are "microchip" CPUs=20
and not "PIC" in traditional sense and more like programming anything in C)

You have basically 5 parts:
1) The chip specific ".h", without this nothing works.
2) A compiler specific way of setting the "fuses" aka Configuration=20
word(s) (may be two) aka personality flags.
3) A function called by Interrupt. It should have all code for all=20
interrupts and test to see what is the interrupt source. Avoid doing=20
Function calls (some 16F compilers won't let you anyway). Use "atomic"=20
instructions to use a "flag" to communicate need to run larger function=20
in the "main()"
4) The initialisation part of system in "main()" program followed by
5) A While True block, The rest of the main program is in a Do Forever=20
loop, even it empty (in which case only Interrupt function is used.

Really all PIC10F/12F16F/18F programs in any language have this=20
structure. Some languages or compilers allow multiple Interrupt=20
routines. Having only one is a good idea. It then has if or case for the=20
sections for different interrupts. A function call from in Interrupt=20
might be allowed by your C compiler or Language esp on new high end 16F=20
and all 18F. But the Function needs to be fully re-entrant, or=20
interrupts disabled. It needs done with great care of design if allowed.

For readability don't try multiple assignments in one statement, even=20
though C allows this. Early C programmers could not type and had=20
compilers that optimised better if all was in one statement. Nowadays we=20
have decent editors and compilers. It doesn't make the program bigger=20
giving intelligent names to things and doing stuff in several lines.

Avoid Macros.

C is just a high level assembler. If you can do assembler or basic or=20
pascal you can do C in a day or two *EXCLUDING* the Libraries. Most of=20
the C libraries are best avoided on a PIC16F /  PIC18F anyway. Like=20
scanf, printf etc.
Insure you are using suitable Integer types and only use 16, 32, 64 bit=20
integers or floating point if you mean to.
Don't rely on Strings or null termination. Biggest source of bugs on=20
PCs. Mostly on a PIC an array of bytes is more use and keep track of all=20
your array bounds (always starting from 0 for 1st element)

--=20
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