Why
Why choose Microchip PIC® microcontrollers for teaching embedded programming?
Microcontrollers provide a inexpensive, easy to use platform for students to learn programming. Microcontrollers allow the student to fully understand and control the complete computer environment. It is truly a back-to-basics, bottom-up approach giving students a solid foundation in computing. Unlike a PC, there is no need to deal with a heavy operating system where there is considerable distance between the program and the user. Microcontrollers provide solid control over timing and direct access to the hardware.
Microcontroller programming skills are in strong demand everywhere. Applications include appliances, toys, automobiles, industrial controls, test equipment, computer peripherals, security systems, safety equipment, and all kinds of data collection devices for research. Consider this, while reading this, there is more than likely a microcontroller in hand, the computer mouse has a microcontroller as well as a PC keyboard.
Unlike a tablet app the microcontroller programming needs are not easy to farm out to other countries like India. Since microcontroller programs need to work tightly with a hardware platform the development is done locally with the hardware designers and testing personal. This makes the local need for good programmers great.
Microchip Technology has excelled in the microcontroller market unlike any other with the introduction of the PIC® MCU family. PIC®s are simple, fast and powerful processors based on the RISC architecture. The PIC® family of parts allows for easy migration to other PIC® chips as the application needs grow. Chip families provide the same basic structure and peripherals while ranging in program memory and standardized pin-packaging.
PIC® devices continue to be one the best selling microcontrollers worldwide and are the number one processor used for new designs. Competition from Atmel, TI and Freescale has not been able to diminish the PIC® popularity.
Every day individuals interact with dozens of PIC® microcontrollers. Consider an automobile, microcontrollers are everywhere from the radio to tire pressure sensors. Even more common around the the home, microcontrollers are in the thermostat, microwave oven, TV, many land line phones and just about everything wireless from the garage door opener to the TV remote.
Development tools and source libraries for the PIC® processors are extensive and inexpensive. This makes a PIC® the best choice for providing students with an education ready for the real world.
About this site
CCS is a company that is passionate about embedded development. In addition to doing custom engineering projects for hundreds of companies CCS specializes in Microchip PIC® MCU development tools. Engineers at CCS for over 20 years have refined a C compiler that was designed just for the PIC® and its peripherals. The CCS C Compiler has more built-in functions and libraries specifically for the PIC® processor than any other. Since the CCS C compiler was designed for the PIC® from the ground up is it far more optimized than other generic C compilers where only the code generation is specific to a processor.
