Beginner's Guide to Programming the PIC32

Description

Thomas Kibalo, who has written many articles for Nuts & Volts magazine delivers the beginner's book many have been looking for: Beginner’s Guide to Programming the PIC32. Using the low cost Microchip Microstick II module with built in programmer and socketed PIC32MX250F128B Microcontroller and the free to download version of MPLAB XC32 Compiler, Kibalo takes you step by step through the fundamentals of programming the PIC32. His clear explanations of the inner workings make learning the PIC32 architecture easy. His code examples demonstrate how to perform the functions most applications require. The hardware is shown in simple breadboard setup so even a beginner can build along with very few extra components needed. The projects include: Driving LEDs Reading momentary switch Analog to Digital Conversion Driving an LCD display Timers and Timer Interrupts Optimizing Performance Serial RS232 communication SPI communication Pulse Width Modulation Controlling the PIC32 Real Time Clock and Calendar Peripheral Pin Select Running Arduino Style code on PIC32 Kibalo also shows you how to run the popular Arduino style code on a PIC32 platform. Using the Microstick II and his library of functions he described throughout the book, you’ll be running Arduino examples on the Microstick II in no time. This is the book you need if you want to understand how to get started with PIC32. Review: I went from hating microcontrollers to loving them. - Before reading this book I barely had any background with microcontrollers and I hated every class I took on them. I barely made through the those classes as it looks like instructors have hard time teaching them (I still got As but I simply used functions created by somebody else). However, the key of learning is having good sources of knowledge and a desire to learn. This book is definitely one of the greatest sources of information you can find out there. After taking a class on micro-controllers, I still didn't understand where the lab instructor was pulling his info out. This author starts with using SFRs only, which can be found in manual for the pic32mx250f128b controller. MAKE SURE YOU GET THEM FROM MICROCHIP WEBSITE BY SEARCHING THE PIC32MX250F128B on their website. The manual names will start with numbering and there'll be about 52 PDFs. Using this book with the manuals for the microcontroller really made everything clear. Buy this book, read each chapter and as you finish each chapter, read a manual on the topic. It is a must to read manual to understand where the SFRs come from and how each module (ADC, Input Capture, Output Capture and so on) works and should be configured. Also, this book does not have a chapter on Input Capture, but working out each chapter of this book will give you a required insight to figure out IC on your own. I took one star off because author jumps to micros later in the chapter and I would avoid using them if you really want to understand how to configure the device yourself even so it takes more code lines to accomplish. Also, using the parameters passed in the micros you can figure out what SFRs to use and what values to set them to. After reading this book, I went from I HATE MICROCONTROLLERS to I LOVE THIS STUFF LETS DO IT FOR FUN. I just purchased a few books on C to improve my coding knowledge. Also, google TUTORIALPOINT if you want to find good web reference for programming. You know what, F it, I'm giving this book 5 stars no matter what. This book is awesome and Mr. Kibalo rocks. It is obvious to me that the author cared to provide the information as clearly as possible. Review: Great starter book - Great starter book. As usual he wants you to buy his board however, for $48 I bread boarded the pic and used a pickit3. The programs still work. I guess at least the microstick board could be used as a programmer with MPLab but only for a couple PICs. Kibalo uses microchips MPLab which has debugging, help, step and unassembly. Its a real IDE. The PIC32MX250F128B is a great little chip that you can do a lot without breaking the bank and this book has a lot of info for beginners. This book is a GREAT choice!