[.ca] The PIC Microcontroller: Your Personal Introductory Course (ISBN 0750666641)

Wonderful Intro to Pics:
I found this book to be very useful in learning quickly how to program PICmicros in general terms. The author goes from the basics of boolean logic and base-2 and base-16 number systems introductions all the way to analog-to-digital conversion and how to write to the eeprom of the 16C84. The important thing to remember if you are considering writing this book is that he covers three of the "early" PIC models, but the newer models have inherited qualities of these models. For instance the 16C84 led to the 16F84 which has now led to the 16F628. I work in an electronic manufacturing services company, so I see a lot of PICs on boards that we manufacture, but haven't had the opportunity to see how the programs were written until now. One individual complained that he referenced "blowing" the PIC. This is not an uncommon term I've heard used for programming chips, since PALS, PLAs, PROMS and many other programmable chips are programmed by actually blowing fuses in the chip. While this is no longer the case with PICs (I don't think), the term I'm sure is still valid. He includes a large number of examples, excersizes (with the answers to all in back), gotchas, and how-to's. There are numerous sample programs for each topic. A++++

Very little knowledge of electronics needed to understand..:
I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering and needed to use microcontrollers to control things in various design projects. This book explained the PIC so well that I now use it where I never though possible before. This book is a must for anyone wanting to learn how to use a PIC, even if you don't have a strong background in electronics (very basic knowledge required to build your own circuits). Even my buddy Twigs could learn using this book.

A very sketchy overview:
First a warning: This book assumes you know basic electronics. If you don't know how to tell one end of an LED from the other, or worse don't know there's a difference, then this book isn't for you. The section on intro to hardware is non-existent. The section on software is incomplete. The section on procedure, including emulation, compilation and burning (which for some reason the author refers to as chip 'blowing') are also incomplete. The example circuits are repetitive. It does, however, give a good overview of the different families of PIC processors. Overall the manufacturer's databook for the PIC processors would probably be more useful.

Easy to understand~! Great Book:
I have read serveral books on the PicMCU and this is by far the best one I had read. The other ones by Myke Predko are very confusing and are very repetitive whereas this book is straight to the point and it really gives reader a very clear understanding of the basics.