williB said:
If a PIC can output or sink a maximum of 25 mA..
I wonder what would happen if you put a diode to ground , with no current limit, and drive it with PIC pin in PWM mode..??
Why a diode?, why not just short the pin to ground (or 5V for that matter).
The outcome is fairly obvious!, it may survive?, or it may damage the chip?, it depends how lucky you are. But it is causing the device to operate outside it's design limits, so it's NOT a good idea.
Generally though I would expect the chip to survive, it's the short of thing that could happen quite easily by accident (due to a software error) - if you're using a pin as an input for a switch, and it has a switch either to Vdd or Vss, and you set the pin as an output - it obviously shorts the output in just that way.
But to feed LED's ALWAYS use a current limiting device (it doesn't have to be a resistor!).
Jay! - I've added a mention of a resistor to your sticky for you!.