I'm just wondering how everyone else 'traps'/debugs to make sure their code is doing what's expected.

I come from the days, when using VMS DCL, it was possible to use a command 'set verify'....as the program ran through its routive it was possible to monitor it's progress. Now with a PIC being 'standalone' that's not possible initially - so how does everyone do it?

For example, with a simple ADC program, it's fairly easy to get an LED to light up if a certain conditon is met...but that's going to grow old very quickly, if you have to put in a routive & each & every time! (also it's not that flexible - for example what if the condition isn't met...why not, what went wrong etc)

Ideally, I'd like to see PIC output on my PC screen as the PIC program runs through it's program. Therefore I'm thinking hyperterm & getting my PIC to talk to the PC's COM port.

I therefore googled about a bit & found surprisingly little 'definitive' info. For example, some sites said that it's not necessary to changle the levels from TTL to RS232 (??) etc. Also decent readable PIC-> RS232 COM ports circuits seem a little thin on the ground (I bought a MAX232 chip a few months ago, but would now like to use it)

So this got me thinking...perhaps there's any easier way of debugging? (I've had a quick try with PIC emulatorw...perhaps I'm just getting a little old, but I might has well been reading the service manual for the Hubble Space telescope)

Is getting the PIC to talk to the PC the way to go?

I'm using a PIC16F690.