Quote Originally Posted by Ioannis View Post
Well, what is it on that chip that is special?
- 12-bit ADC2
- 4/4 Timers
- 4 CCP & 2 PWM
- EEPROM
- 20-bit NCO
- PPS
- 4 CLC

I've used it in a couple projects. In one, I needed many PWMs but with PPS where I could swap output pins. In another, I needed the 12-bit ADC, EEPROM, and ALL of the Timers. In another I needed the EEPROM, NCO, PPS, and CLC combo.

In other words, I have found a couple projects where this was the only PIC 8-bit offering to include ALL of the peripherals I needed all in one package.

Having used MPLABX for over a year now, it's like learning anything; the more you use it, the more it just becomes natural. Microchip offers online tutorials to help us learn a wide range of skills regarding their MCUs and tools at:

http://microchipdeveloper.com/training-self:start

I started with PICAXE and believe me, learning the necessary building blocks just to program anything was a long steep hill. After I got proficient with PICAXE I realized I was throttling myself. The PICAXE chips are just PIC chips with a boot loader. However, that limits the capabilities of the chips, and slows them down. With that said...

I saw an ad for PBP3 Basic in Nuts & Volts Magazine. I checked it out and liked what I saw. This opened the entire line of PIC 8-bit MCUs to me, and I could have full control over their functions. I bit & bought. Though it might not seem like such a leap, it took me several months of playing with PBP to get comfortable enough to start using it in my projects. After awhile, I forgot the idiosynchrocies of PICAXE (would have to relearn again).

As for MPLABX, I had been using ASM in many PBP3 projects, so I created a simple ASM project in MPLABX. Once I learned the nuts & bolts of the IDE, I bought a couple books and started learning how to get the job done in XC8. I still only know a fraction of the capabilities of the C programming language, but at least I'm functional. I probably do many things the hard way.

It boiled down to "What is important to me?" "What price am I willing to pay to get what I want (need)?" Then make it happen!