PIC Programming, where do I start??

[Electric Rain]

I'll keep this quick. There are many many of my projects that I've thought up of that I need to use pics for. But I have no experience whatsoever in PIC programming. Nor do I even have a programmer yet! So could someone help me out in the learning part (you know, a good book, a good website...) of it and suggest a good, affordable, (<$50) universal pic programmer please? Thanks a lot.

Rain

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I'll keep this quick. There are many many of my projects that I've thought up of that I need to use pics for. But I have no experience whatsoever in PIC programming. Nor do I even have a programmer yet! So could someone help me out in the learning part (you know, a good book, a good website...) of it and suggest a good, affordable, (<$50) universal pic programmer please? Thanks a lot.

Rain

Have a look at http://www.winpicprog.co.uk, for programming sofware, circuits of programmers, and PIC tutorials. As I've already mentioned loads of times, I personally recommend the P16PRO40 programmer - which is simply a varient of the enhanced David Tait design.

 

[stevez]

From a novice's (me) point of view - you'll need a programmer which is the hardware that you plug the PIC in to and that connects it to your computer. There are a zillion variations, so it seems, and many of them quite good based on comments.

You'll also need to get the program in a form that can be downloaded into the PIC. That requires a compiler, I think. I'll probably start with a PICBasic compiler. It will cost me $100 (US) but I expect that somewhat less in-depth programming skill will be needed. I also understand that the resulting compiled code will contain a lot of excess stuff taking more time to execute but for now I'll make that sacrifice.

If I elect to start with the "free" stuff I'd likely have to spend more time learning machine or assembly language though as I understand it the resulting code is likely to be more efficient. If my plan were to get more involved with PIC applications I'd probably be better off taking this path. This might also be true if I were going to take advantage of work done by others where I'd simply download programs that have already been compiled and tested.

Just thought I'd share where I came out. What is "best" depends on many things.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Although BASIC is easier to learn, it's a LOT more expensive than a free assembler. A 14 bit PIC has only 35 instructions to learn, so it's worth making the effort - particularly as a good knowledge of assembler is very helpful to users of PICBASIC.

Going back many, many, years it was always reportedly said on programming courses at Universities that you were not allowed to use BASIC until you had mastered the rudiments of machine code. I don't know how true it was!.