Which book to pick?

[bartman]

I want to buy a book that I could learn the basics of assembly language. I don't want to write big programs in assembler, but I would like to be able to have some understanding of what a small bit of code would do and if would be nice if I could eventually write some very simple stuff.

It would almost have to be an "Assembly for Dummies" book referencing PICS, but I do have a VERY basic grasp of PicBasic for what that's worth.

These are some I have had suggested:

1. Myke Predko : Programming & Customizing the PICmicro
2. Square 1 : Easy Microcontrol'n

I also read on another thread here about

3. PIC in Practice by David W Smith

Anyone else have an opinion they would care to share?

Thanks.

Bart

[Luciano]

Hi,

No need for books!

Complete Mid-Range Reference Manual (Last Updated: 10/15/04)
(See section 29).
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/33023a.pdf

Pic Tutorial
http://www.mstracey.btinternet.co.uk/pictutorial/picmain.htm

PIC16F84 Fundamentals
http://www.boondog.com/%5Ctutorials%5Cpic16F84%5Cpic16f84.html

Introducing the Microchip PIC
http://tutor.al-williams.com/pic-intro.html

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Can you read French?

Le site de Bigonoff:
http://www.abcelectronique.com/bigonoff/

Best regards,

Luciano

[mister_e]

French in canada is mostely speak in the East Region => Quebec and if you're lucky, in Ontario.

For those who understand and read french, i can recommend the Bigonoff tutorial. Really well explain, still simple. No luck Bart, there's no translation on that one :(

Thanks for the other links Luciano! Still handy to have more and more

[bartman]

I prefer books. There is no high speed internet in the area I live so doing anything online is a painful process plus the phone line is tied up for too long.

So, no one has any book preferences?

Bart

[mugwamp]

I've used the Easy Microcontrol'n book. It's well written but doesn't go very far. You should plan on having to buy most of the Square 1 books to get to the same level as Chuck Hellebuyck's "Programming PIC Microcontroller's with PicBasic".

[mytekcontrols]

For whatever it is worth, I would recommend learning the Microchip RISC assembly language, and not the Parallax or Picbasic supported 8051 style syntax. The reason I say this, is that when you move into the 18F series devices, you will be hard pressed to find support for this alternative PIC asssembly language. Personally I first learned PIC assembly by using Parallax's 8051 style assembler, because I could not stand the more cryptic (my opinion) Microchip RISC instruction set. In fact I can't for the life of me figure out why Microchip never made a deal with Parallax to incorporate their syntax into its assemblers. And the reason I say this, is because why would anyone want to write 8 lines of code (RISC) instead of what can be done in 4 lines (8051)? But no use crying over spilled milk, this is just the way it is. And many times it is simply better to adapt, then to be orphaned in a dying unsupported language set. This is what I have done (although painfully), and now write my assembly code in RISC, because I have need of the much better 18F series architecture.

Of course you may tell yourself that you don't care about using any of the 16 bit processors, and that the older series is just fine for your needs. But if your job is about doing embedded system design for others (or you ever anticipate doing such), you would be much better off having the flexibility to jump into this family of processors, and having a much shorter programming curve if you can take along your pre-existing code modules that you have written and know to be reliable.

Of course better still, is to have familiarity with both the RISC and 8051 type assemblers. But I would still suggest starting out with RISC, and then if you feel so inclined move into the 8051 style syntax. This way you can still write streamlined 8051 code (fewer lines) where you can (non-18F series), and then RISC code when it is necessary, so as not to be limited to only certain PICs.

At any rate, have fun with whichever approach you decide to take :).

[bartman]

I only want to learn a bit for my own personal use and satisfaction. My job has nothing to do with any kind of electrtonics short of using them!

Hence, it has to be very simple as I only have the limited knowledge of PicBasic on my side, not a background in programming or electronic engineering.

Although there are days I wish I would have went into that field it won't be happening anymore. I just want to dabble in my little projects.

Bart

[Luciano]

Hi Bart,

Download this free tool.
http://www.httrack.com

HTTrack is a free (GPL, libre/free software) and easy-to-use offline browser utility.

It allows you to download a World Wide Web site from the Internet to a local directory, building recursively all directories, getting HTML, images, and other files from the server to your computer. HTTrack arranges the original site's relative link-structure. Simply open a page of the "mirrored" website in your browser, and you can browse the site from link to link, as if you were viewing it online. HTTrack can also update an existing mirrored site, and resume interrupted downloads. HTTrack is fully configurable, and has an integrated help system.

* * *

With this tool you can "mirror" a tutorial web side in 10 minutes.
Once you have "mirrored" the web site on your local hard disk,
you can then view it offline. (Without modem connection).

The only thing that will stop HTTrack is a phone line problem during the download.
(Don't worry because you can resume interrupted downloads, even after days).

http://www.kazimages.com/uploads/2d13302481.jpg

http://www.kazimages.com/uploads/8c9a4de6f8.jpg
Wapiti (Cervus elaphus canadensis)

Best regards,

Luciano

[tom]

I also prefer books and have both Predko's book
and Pic in practice by David Smith.
Myke Predko is huge book more for people whose
all life is in somehow related to PIC :-)
You will find everything about PIC you will ever
want to know written in most detailed way,
(so it is not easy to read it) but it's definitivly not for
start learning assembler. It's more like some
Pic reference manual.
Pic in practice is great book for learning
assembler, easy written andeasy to follow. Definitivly
the book you are looking for!

[bartman]

Thanks. I'll check out that program to see if my ancient system will run it. I'm still thinking on the books, but it looks like I can eliminate one of them for sure.

Bart