Customer Reviews

Microcontrollers and Microcomputers: Principles of Software and Hardware Engineering

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I am half way through a semester teaching with this book and I could not be happier.
It presents topics in a very well thought out way. It does not emphasize one particular processor
which is a good idea. It teaches PRINCIPLES, not specifics.

When I look at the organization, I can tell that the author is a good teacher. He is a master of presenting
material in a logical, well thought out way.

The specifics of a particular processor can be found in a data sheet. In fact, other books
I have used are little more than expanded versions of processor data sheets.... oh but one major
difference... they cost a lot of money.

I like the idea of teaching students the principles first then bringing in current (and accurate)
material which gives an example of the principle. Using this book, for example, I can talk about
registers in general, then give examples in the PIC18, PIC32, MIPS, 6800 Etc processors,
and compare.

I prefer to teach from principles versus a particular processor. Why? Because
(A) In the workplace the student is not likely to use the processor *I* select.
If the student does not understand the basic principles he/she will have to start from scratch.
(B) processor technology changes quickly. Any particular processor will be dated within a few years.


The bottom line: great book about principles BUT, you will need to augment the material with specifics
about the processor you may be using.


One suggestion for the publisher: It would be great to lower the price of the book a bit given that it is a soft cover...

Well ,When I bough this book I was looking for a definitive guide on interfaces & programming them.Particularly for teaching ends. This is not it! It is however a very nice introduction to both areas whereas the software & design part is to little, in my opinion.Considering interfacing ,a few (fairly good)examples are given but they are few.All in all I consider it a little to shallow for EE majors .It is however easily readable and not complex , it could serve in a more obscure course of some sort.