ABSTRACT
In the pres ent chap ter, we dis cuss some of the pos si ble vari a tions in these el e - ments for PIC18F pro gram ming and sys tem de vel op ment.
3.1.1 Em bed ded Sys tems An em bed ded sys tem is de signed for a spe cific pur pose, in con trast to a com puter sys - tem, which is a gen eral-pur pose ma chine. The em bed ded sys tem is in tended for ex e - cut ing spe cific and pre de fined tasks, for ex am ple, to con trol a mi cro wave oven, a TV re ceiver, or to op er ate a model rail road. In a gen eral-pur pose com puter, on the other hand, the user may se lect among many soft ware ap pli ca tions. For ex am ple, the user may run a word pro ces sor, a Web browser, or a da ta base man age ment sys tem on the desk top. Be cause the soft ware in an em bed ded sys tem is usu ally fixed and can not be eas ily changed, it is called “firm ware.”
