Customer Reviews

PIC Microcontroller Project Book

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a good beginner's book on PIC 16F84 microcontrollers as long as you don't mind spending an additional $100 for a third party PIC BASIC code compiler. All of the book's lessons and programs are based on this BASIC compiler (no commonality to Microchip's MPLAB). There are some truly useful projects described such as serial communication, servo motor control and switch inputs, so if your goal is to get a design up and running quickly, this might be for you. It would be more accurately described as a user manual for the BASIC compiler rather than a PIC microcontroller reference. I was kinda bugged that this wasn't mentioned in the book's description.

I'm afraid I need to disagree with the professor's review. If you are at all interested in the PIC microcontrollers and use of PIC Basic you would be best served looking elsewhere for inspiration. John Iovine's book is poorly written in so many ways that even someone new to microcontrollers would find very little use for it. Aside from his writing style being somewhat confusing, this book is full of outdated information. With a publishing date of 2004 I was suprised to find so much information applied to applications and hardware from the 90's inside. Aside from this, which in and of itself is reason enough not to waste your time or money on it, he doesn't list any resources in his text. For example, he makes mention of serial LCD's, but doesn't provide any specific examples of vendors or models and makes claim that they all work the same, which is not true. His projects are the same basic beginners projects you can find all over the internet for free and are less descriptive than those you might find elsewhere. There isn't a single PCB design in the book and he demonstrates all of his projects with a breadboard. Most unfortunate, is the pictures he provides of the finished breadboards - they are taken at an angle, far enough away from the breadboard that not only could you not use the picture to validate your own breadboard design, you can barely tell what is what on the breadboard at all. On top of everything else, he explores only the PIC16F84 chip, which while one of the more popular chipsets ever produced by Microchip, is also outdated information since Microchip has since updated this to the PIC16F84A model and he doesn't cover any other chipset in any detail. One or two of his projects and examples show a different chipset in the schematic, but that's about it. His exploration of the BASIC language is no more or less descriptive than, say, the users guide of the PIC Basic language itself (which you can get for free). There are also many omissions and errors throughout the book, specifically as they apply to his projects. For example, his H-Bridge DC motor controller design is not smokeless (you could easily fry the PIC and/or other components in this design) and is missing several key components (like capacitors) that would prevent the design from working in a real world application. He also has a half a dozen or so shameless plugs throughout the book pointing you to 'other books he has written' to get more information - if this book is any example of what you might find in his other books, you'd be best to stay away from this author altogether. The cover of this book claims it is 'Completley updated and revised' - I guess this means the first edition was really horrible, the second edition is, in my opinion, simply not worth the read.

I'm an EE undergrad, and had several courses on programming, microcontrollers, etc. I'm using this and other books to teach myself the PIC family. As I proceed through this book I'm finding lots of errors and omissions in code and diagrams - which has the (unintended) blessing of forcing me to really learn by fixing the author's mistakes. Mr. Iovine should have more carefully edited his work - it will likely make the beginner crazy.

I teach microcontrollers at a well-known university, using the PIC 16F84. My course is in the sophomore year, so I need a book that assumes very little previous knowledge and experience. This book does a nice job of explaining the basic functioning of the PIC's hardware. The programming language used is a version of BASIC, which my students have already studied. The use of the PICBasic compiler and EPIC programmer are explained extremely well. The book contains 12 projects to build, starting from simple flashing LEDs, and moving on into motor control, LCDs, A/D conversions and serial communications. All projects are explained step-by-step and are illustrated with clear schematics and photos. Material costs are minimal. For all these reasons, John Iovine's book is the ONLY book I recommend for beginners. If you have a beginner's knowledge of electronics and have done some BASIC-language programming, this book will give you a solid foundation in the PIC microcontroller.

The PIC microcontroller Project Book is one of those books that stem from the rising populairity of robotics. This book is intended for the true beginner in any field that comes with building a PICcontrolled device. Basic issue's, like how to install software on a PC, how does a breadboard look like, what are electrical symbols and where to obtain the nessesary hardware are explained in great detail. With the subtitle "A true biginners Guide To the Populair Pic microcontroler" in mind the author gives us a electrical schematic, a drawing and a photograph of the breadboard of the first project, winking LED's. After this intro, the author lays out the PIC architecture, like the TRIS and port registers, the binairy calculation, reading i/o lines and the pokes and peeks of Basic - the language used to program the PIC. Once mastered this section, one of the twelve step-by-step-projects can be build. These involve for example the making of a speechsynthesizer, controlling DC stepper and Servomotors, LCD displays, reading sensors and there's even a trackerdevice that applies fuzzy logic to track light.

Overall this book has a clear audience and a clear idea. The information is well structured and well edited. The layout is good, although there isn't much need for this book as a referenceguide. The author succeeded in making a very solid entrylevel book for the absolute beginner.

The book is a very good teaching guide, but ONLY if you buy PICBASIC ( $100 ) and the EPIC Programmer ( $ 35 ). Its a nice way to get started without learning assembly, but ONLY if you buy the PICBASIC. Well written otherwise, just not the book I will use other than a reference when possible....

I was surprised to discover that this book is not focused on the PIC's native programming language - It is focused on PIC Basic. You will not be able to use this book unless you purchase a PIC Basic compiler for around a hundred dollars. To make matters worse, you must purchase the specific (DOS-based) one recommended in the book if you expect the examples to work as written. Other compilers have significant variations in syntax and capabilities.

Not a bad book - just be aware of what you are getting.

I highly recommend this book to the beginner getting into PIC microcontrollers. Everything is explained in enough detail for the beginner to understand. Work through the projects in this book and you should have enough background to design your own control projects. Yes, this book covers only the PIC 16F84 controller, but porting PICBASIC code to other PIC controllers is very easy. Yes, you will have to purchase the third party PICBASIC software in order to use the book. But for the hobbyist new to PIC programming, PICBASIC is the way to go--the time saved from using PICBASIC instead of Microchip Assembler is tremendous, especially for the beginner. Don't buy the software from Images. Buy it off the internet and the software should arrive the same time as the book. PIC microcontrollers really rock and this book is an excellent place to start.

I read this book and found it very useful. The explanations, from program installation to actual PIC programming, is given in detail. The PIC Basic language is powerful and makes it easy to program PIC microcontrollers. The author stays focused on the PIC 16F84. The book projects are good; analog to digital converters, serial communication, LCD displays, neural circuits, servo motor controls, etc. I was able to build these projects and get them up and running. This is no small feat for me.

I think the book is an excellant value and am looking forward to the author's next book.

I bought this book based on the description and the reviews. Somehow during all that I missed that it was actually an "Introduction to Programming and Using the PIC 16F84 with the PICBasic Compiler" Given that I have no interest in PICBasic this book was a complete waste of money. If you have an interest in PICBasic this is probably a worthwile book, otherwise, look elsewhere.