A rant about port configurations

[cncmachineguy]

I know I may ba a little wierd, but I like reading them. Admitedly I don't read the parts I never use, like ethernet and such. I usually zoom straight for the osc section after looking at the pinout section. From there I will read the example for each port I/O it usually tells me what needs setup to make it work. I like the charts that show each pin and what it can do, this way I know where to look to see if I need to set stuff.

I HATE writing headers for the initial set up, hence my wish list item for a header wizard. I think it could knock your 4-5 hours down to 10 mins.

[Charles Linquis]

It should be possible for uChip or someone else to write such a wizard - maybe they already have. If I was really good at some 'useful' language like Java, I might try it myself. As it is, I'm going to have to wait for someone smarter than me to do it.

[cncmachineguy]

I am on that list with you. But I don't agree with the useful part. You already know the most useful language - PBP. The rest can only make pretty pictures and parse text.

[Darrel Taylor]

I highly dislike the method of trying to initialize ALL the registers at the top of your program.
Unless you know EVERYTHING about that chip, many of them get initialized incorrectly.
This had led to more problems than any other issue.

With the exception of comparators on the older chips ... Everything is turned OFF at power-up.

All you have to do is turn ON the things you want to use.
Don't try to turn everything off, they already are.

Now the first thing people will say is ...
Then why do I have to turn off analog pins with ADCON1 or ANSELx?

It's because you aren't turning the Analog functions OFF, you are turning the Digital Inputs ON.
Analog inputs are always ON, even when the Digital Input is enabled.

So just concentrate on what you want the chip to do, not what you don't want it to do.

[tekart]

Wise words Darrell. I will keep that in mind.

But I still think it would be nice if Microchip could add a simple chart showing the port defaults to their data sheets. It's the difference between implicit information and being explicit which is what the spec shhe should be all about

[Darrel Taylor]

That information is already in the datasheet.
For the 16F916 you are using, look at Table 2-1 (page 17)
It has the POR/BOR and "Other" reset defaults for every register.

[tekart]

Yeah, but that table does not explicitly state the POR for each pin. It just lists what each pin CAN DO, not what it wakes up to without tweaking registers.
I want a clear explicit list of the defaults, it would sure make my life simpler!