Embedded programming course/book with step-by-step inst?

guy · Joined: 21 Oct 2005 Posts: 291

I have a client who wants to train his pro Windows programmer to work with PIC & CCS. She doesn't have much experience with hardware but she's a talented, experienced programmer.
Can you recommend an online course or book which takes you all the way through dev. tools, debug techniques, coding etc.?
Thanks!!

newguy · Joined: 24 Jun 2004 Posts: 1902

For some reason I'm running afoul of the site's filters. Google "Embedded C Programming and the Microchip PIC" by Barnett, Cox and O'Cull. A little dated, but a fantastic book.

temtronic · Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:11 pm

Well reading alone won't cut it ! Get a good 'proto/developement board', something that can accept whatever peripherals your project requires.
Something like the PIC18F46K22 would be a very good PIC to learn on. It's got lots of flash, ram, I/O, etc. and a 'stable' product. Obviously reading the datasheet is a must, though I admit the 500+ pages does get a bit tedious, it's THERE that you begin to understand HOW PICs work. From there, I suggest learning assembler THEN progress to CCS C.
Learn the basics, build upon them.

guy · Joined: 21 Oct 2005 Posts: 291

newguy is there a suitable dev. board for the book? Does the book include step-by-step installation and HW setup instructions?

newguy · Joined: 24 Jun 2004 Posts: 1902

In my early days I used the Lab-X1 from ME Labs. For some reason every time I try to include a link lately, my post is automatically "wiped", so you're going to be forced to google that.

Honestly, the book, an ICD-U64 (DON'T get the ICD-U80!!!!) and a decent prototyping board is all you really need. Just hook it all up and start to play. The thing about the book that I greatly admired was the way they introduced a practical problem (the central topic of the book is a control system/display for an electric bicycle), broke it apart into manageable "chunks" and attacked the problem in a logical manner. They also dealt with interrupts at every turn - something that newbies are afraid of for some reason.

One thing to note, however, is that the Lab-X1 is a 5V board (requires a 5V compliant PIC). I'm sure that there are 3.3V prototyping alternatives now, but haven't really looked at anything like that in ages. The 5V/3.3V issue will bite you if you want to incorporate, for example, an SD card or some type of sensor/IC that is only available in 3.3V form. Can't directly hook that to a 5V board.

PCM programmer · Joined: 06 Sep 2003 Posts: 21708

CCS has a book and development board bundle:
http://www.ccsinfo.com/product_info.php?products_id=e3mini-book
It includes a single-chip version of the CCS IDE that works with the
18F14K50 on the development board.