Hubert Henry Ward - Programming Arduino Projects with the PIC Microcontroller: A Line-By Line Code Analysis and Complete Reference Guide for Embedded Programming in C

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This book looks at using some useful aspects of the PIC microcontroller. It explains how to write programs in C so that you can use the PIC micro to control a variety of electronics devices and DC motors. After reading this book, you will be well on your way to becoming an embedded programmer using the C program language.

I have two main aims in writing this book. First and foremost, I have a real passion for writing programs in that I am enthralled by the way we can use simple 1s and 0s, really 5V and 0V, to make a circuit do almost anything we want it to do. The extent of what we can get these microcontrollers to do is limited only by our imagination and experience. In my youth, we thought the flip phone used by Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek was just a gimmick and we would never get there. Well, our mobile phones do a lot more than just video calls. All of what we do with our phones is done with just 1s and 0s. In writing this book, my primary goal is to hopefully inspire you guys into wanting to understand how we make the 1s and 0s work for us. That is why I will explain how all the instructions in my programs actually work and how they achieve the outcomes we want.

The second aim in writing this book is to transfer all those Arduino Sketches, which use a range of useful peripheral devices, and show you how to get them to work on a PIC microcontroller. In doing so, I hope to show you that the world of PIC controllers is not complicated and really anyone can work with them. It does not matter what experience you have with PICs, as I will assume you know nothing. This book will take the complete novice and not only allow them to run those Arduino Sketches on the PIC, but it will explain in detail every aspect of how the programs work. After reading this book, you will hopefully not only enjoy programming PIC micros in the C programming language, but should be well prepared to take on a new career as an embedded programmer.

In addition to getting to know how to program in C, I will show you how to build a range of circuits so that you end up using the peripherals in a practical environment. I will show you how, if you so wish, you can make your own prototype boards to program your PICs and run the programs you write. We will learn about the electronic principles of the components we use to interface the PIC to a wide range of useful peripherals.

You will be able to use an industrial IDE to write your programs in C, compile and download your programs using a variety of tools, and use the simulator in MPLABX, the IDE, to debug your programs.

You should be able to download your programs to your PIC in a practical situation where you have the ability to design and build some useful projects.

You will have learned the basic principles of a range of electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, transistors and the Darlington array, diodes, and light-emitting diodes.

There are none really, but if you understand C programming it would be useful. However, I will explain how each of the programs work as we go through them.

Also, if you understand the binary and hexadecimal number systems, it would be an advantage, but there is a section in the appendix that will help you with that and I will explain the important aspects as we need them.

All these programs are freely available from the Microchip website.

Another useful piece of software would be a suitable ECAD (electronic computer-aided design) software that supports eight-bit micros. The ECAD software that I have used in the past is PROTEUS. However, this is not free and so I will show you how to use a suitable prototype board to run the programs in a practical situation.