Product Description

PIC Microcontrollers are present in almost every new electronic application that is released from garage door openers to the iPhone. With the proliferation of this product more and more engineers and engineers-to-be (students) need to understand how to design, develop, and build with them. Martin Bates, best-selling author, has provided a step-by-step guide to programming these microcontrollers (MCUs) with the C programming language.

With no previous knowledge of C necessary to read this book, it is the perfect for entry into this world for engineers who have not worked with PICs, new professionals, students, and hobbyists. As MCUs become more complex C is the most popular language due to its ability to process advanced processes and multitasking. RTOSs, that is a need to know for engineers, is also discussed as more advanced MCUs require timing and organization of programming and implementation of multitasking. The book includes lots of source code, circuit schematics, and hardware block diagrams. Microchip's PICDEM Mechatronics board is used to detail the examples throughout the book.

*Focuses on the C programming language which is by far the most popular for microcontrollers (MCUs)
*Features Proteus VSMg the most complete microcontroller simulator on the market, along with CCS PCM C compiler, both are highly compatible with Microchip tools
*Extensive downloadable content including fully worked examples

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #93193 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780750689601
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
By Martin P. Bates, Hastings College of Arts & Technology, UK. and author of the internationally renowned book PIC Microcontrollers 2e

Customer Reviews

Bates does it again
Hello.

I own several microcontroller books, including Bates books about microcontrollers (PICs), the one before this one (the assembler one).

I have a good programming background in assembler for these micros, the mid range and base range (16Fs and 12Fs) so I know the architecture of several micros (including the new 16F887). Actually, if you know a little of PICs architecture you know it's very much the same on all the "product line".

I've programmed in BASIC with PICBASIC PRO, and know how the code generates (32 bytes of RAM just to use the compiler) but lately I wanted to learn another programming language for the Microchip PIC. Since I use 12F, 16F and 18F series I wanted a good compiler and I was between the FED C (from Dogan Ibrahim books) and the CCS (from several forums and the fact it can run in MPLAB). I own Prata's C PRIMER PLUS and "The white book" (K&R second edition) and have read a little, so if I see a program, I think I can understand it.

That been said, let's get to the book:
Bates does a great job of presenting the programming basics (for, while, if, switch, etc) with the CCS compiler, as he presents the program, comments on it (explains how it works) and provides several pointers on each subject. He also proposes several exercices at the end of each chapter.

After the explanation with respect to the programming fundamentals, he goes into the modules of the PIC (again, using CCS) and does a good job of explaining the program and also the inner workings of the modules.

If you have 150 dollars you could get the mechatronics development board from Microchip (I own it), since one of the chapters is devoted to it.

He states that you need almost no programming experience to get results from this book, and he might be right but, I think you must have some.

You could like CCS or not; comming from assembler I want to know where I put every BYTE and every BIT, I can tell you that CCS it's not a very good compiler (for the beginner it might be) because of the definitions but, that does not mean that BATES did not produce a very good book.

Anyone that want's to make the transition from Assamler to C (PICs) should get this book.


Please forgive my english, it's very rusty.

Not as advertised - beware
The printed content of this book seems reasonable for the price if a bit lower level than expected. However, the book claims to provide membership to a web site that would provide additional specific tools for PIC use and applications. This access is not available. The tools are not available. Attempts to contact the author and the publisher to resolve this issue went unanswered. Amazon customer support could not resolve this issue either.

Too technical for beginners.
This book jumps into the C programming language in such a way that unless you already had some working knowledge of C, you will get lost quickly. The author jumps into a simple one line program and goes through assembly, programming and debugging, which you will have to learn, but you will need a lot more understanding of C first. Unfortunately this book doesn't deliver the kind of knowledge you will need.