After a few months twiddling PIC16 bits in simulation I need to get three, three-hour lab sessions written up for the PIC16F84. The school has provided me with two versions of their PIC16F84A boards, one designed for Mechatronics students and one for EE students. The board designs date to the dawn of the Arduino era […]
While planning a book on programming microcontrollers I've been trying to settle on a small group of microcontrollers that could be used for examples. Every couple of years I do this to myself. Below are a few examples, including the ubiquitous Arduino UNO with an 8-bit chip, as well as the FRDM-KL25Z and Adafruit Metro […]
Introduction Here we're going to "kick the tires" on examining a simple example program, using three 8-bit microcontrollers: the classic PIC16F84A, it's updated cousin found on the Microchip Curiosity Board, the PIC16F1619, and the ATMEGA328P made famous by the Arduino UNO. We'll be using a "debugging first" approach to programming that is intended to enable students […]
How bad and outdated is Assembler? For many of us, Assembler is the Latin of programming languages. Below, I talk about my changing perspective on this. In preparation for the embedded systems course I'll be helping to teach at the INSA in Strasbourg I'm reviewing my PIC-based teaching material, mostly based on the PIC32. This […]
As of MPLAB X 5 (v 5.05 and XC8 v2 compiler tested) you can develop projects for 8 bit MCUs like the PIC16, PIC18 and 8 bit AVR ATMEGAs. You can even reprogram your Arduino UNO board using the new Microchip PICKit 4! Here I'm going to have a look at using at the Assembler […]
“Home Security and Automation” Project Description [What the project is to achieve, a half to one page. Please describe the educational component of the project.] Home security projects are relatively common for engineering and computer science students. They typically focus on a superficial and limited technical implementation. The objective of this project is to learn […]
I want to spend my sabbatical year re-thinking my perspective on C++ and Assembler and how to teach engineering and computer science material using those two languages. To keep myself focused I'll need a target application, ideally with hardware. In fact, two applications would be ideal: Controlling chip heat Alarm system The first application would […]
I don't like Assembler programming. I was forced to use it in 1997 in EE 380 on the Motorola 68000 with Prof Nelson Durdle at the University of Alberta. Ditto, for C++. My C professor, Prof. Martin Mintchev, in EE 445 convinced me that it was bloated and terrible. So, since that time, I've been […]