ABSTRACT
PIC architecture PIC microcontrollers first became popular in the mid-1990s. Since then the range of devices available has increased dramatically. Nowadays a PIC device exists for almost any embedded application, from small 6-pin devices ideal for simple control applications, through to powerful high-speed devices packed with I/O features and large amounts of memory. PIC are based on RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture and, as a consequence, they use a relatively small number of instructions. In fact, some PIC chips have as few as 33 instructions compared with some general-purpose microprocessors (such as the Z80) that may have several hundred. Because it is only necessary to remember a relatively small number of commands, it is relatively easy to learn to program a PIC using its own assembly language (note, however, that it may take several instructions to achieve on a PIC what can be done in a single instruction using a fully-fledged microprocessor). And, if you don’t like the idea of having to learn assembly code programming you can can make use of C, BASIC or Flowcode (a language based almost entirely on flowcharts).
