Programming in C for the PIC microcontroller

The C programming language definitely reigns supreme in the embedded electronics community. Microprocessors can be found in 99% of all electronics today, from car radios to cookers, and it’s the software that the microprocessors run that gives the whole design its personality.

Many electronics enthusiasts got their start with microprocessors by learning assembly language. In fact, Microchip’s PIC microcontroller is the processor of choice for many starting out on this path.

Assembly language presents a free entry to this market, ideal for beginners on a budget. However, assembly language is somewhat laborious if you need to code a complex task. C compilers are now available for free download, so students can begin their programming experience in a high-level universal language that can be used on many other high-end and low-end microprocessors.

Assembly language is limited to use with a particular family of processors, and if the engineer migrates to another processor, they have to start all over again from scratch. C is a universal language and it is the headache of the compiler designer, not the engineer, to make sure that C code is compatible with the processor.

Most software written by non-hobbyists is written in C. Program snippets can be collected and used in many projects with different processors until complete code libraries are accumulated. So writing code becomes a simple task of selecting what code functions are needed and putting them together, a task for which the C programming language is particularly well suited.

Simple C for the PIC Microcontroller puts anyone with little or no experience programming C or PIC microcontrollers in as little as half a day.