Customer Reviews

PIC in Practice, Second Edition: A Project-based Approach

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well done D.W.Smith!, this book is well laid out and easy to understand. Mr Smith has not presumed any prior PIC knowledge from the reader, except a good understanding of electronics. Describing basic PIC functions initially & with plenty of practical applications early on & then going onto describe why it works. There is no heavy technical 'jargon' early on which all of my other 5 PIC books are guilty of. I only wish that this book had been available 2 years ago when I migrated from amateur electronics logic circuits to PIC micros. My first 5 PIC books by other authors have done nothing but made the learning process an upward struggle. Highly recommend this for your starter / average PIC enthusiast. Not for the very experienced. Well done again.

The substance of the book is informative, and is clearly presented for anyone has interested in programming these devices.
All topics in the book are great for learning to develop your own code.I bought most of the recent releases on this subject. Don't hesitate if your struggling with subroutines and flow charts to get your program up and running, buy this book.David has taken the step by step approach, which is a blessing for anyone who wants to learn. There are a few clarical errors which you can hammer out if you read each of the chapters carefully. David has taken the time to expand your library with alot of the most popular Pic's used today.The knowledge you will gain from this book will give you the building blocks required to compile fundamental and valuable code for your next application. Most popular chapters for me are Analog to Digital Conversion, Radio Control, 12C5xx Series 8 Bit Devices. No other release I have is more informative on this subject then David's book. Look for it in your local book store.

I didn't find a whole lot of worthwhile updates in this book, versus the original. HOWEVER, since this book is much cheaper than the original, I strongly recommend it over the first edition.

What this book does very well, is to introduce one to PIC Assembly Language. Though it chooses the 16F84 as it's main introductory chip, the same Assembly Language can be used on other offerings from Microchip.

My only disappointment with this new edition is that Mr. Smith did not change his example chip to another, more affordable PIC. But this is of no consequence to learning what he has to teach, and it's a definite keeper.

OUTSTANDING book!

After reading PIC in Practice, you can read ANY assembly code!

This book is very easy to understand. It is written as though the author is talking directly to you. Each topic is explained in three different ways using real-world examples.

Great explanation of each instruction code. Like a great novel, all projects in come together at the end of the book. It gives you a "warm fuzzy" of understanding.

PIC in Practice makes a great reference and is written for the beginner to advance reader.

I hope to find more books by Mr. Smith.

This book put my fears to rest, I'm a long time electronics hobbyist. Ive always been reluctant to get into the world of uCs, fearing the challenge involved. When i do something, i do it properly. Anyways, this book is easy to read and follow. The author holds your hand the whole way through the book :) which is nice in a way, he leaves nothing unexplained. The book was not fantastic or amazing, but it was good :)

I read the book really quickly, the learning curve was quick and steep. I have not read any other PIC books, so ive got nothing to compare to. Definitely glad ive read it and that ive got it, its currently my main PIC reference. Cheers

This book proved to be just what I was looking for. It is perfect for people who want to start learning the basics of pics and assembly. Anyone can learn from this book. It is not written like a technical document like so many I have seen.

Even a beginner can understand this book.

Don't hesitate to buy it, this book will help you a lot to learn and understand how to program pics in assembly language.

The substance of the book is informative, and is clearly presented for anyone interested in programming these devices.
All topics in the book are great for learning to develop your own code.I bought most of the recent releases on this subject. Don't hesitate if your struggling with subrountines and flow charts to get your program up and running, buy this book.David has taken the step by step approach, which is blessing for anyone who wants to learn. There are a few clarical errors which you can hammer out if you read each of the chapters carefully. David has taken the time to expand your library with alot of the most popular Pic's used today.The knowledge you will gain from this book will give you the building blocks required to compile fundamental and valuable code for your next application. Most popular chapters for me are Analog to Digital Conversion, Radio Control, 12C5xx Series 8 Bit Devices. No other release I have is more informative on this subject then David's book. Look for it in your local book store.

This is by far the best reference I've ever seen for microprocessors. Some people can learn abstractly; however, I think anyone would agree the best way to learn to do something is to do it for yourself. That is the basis of this book. I have taken several classes on microprocessors and ran into a problem I couldn't resolve when I picked up this book. I did a few example programs for myself, based on the subject, and now the problem is solved. Not only can this book help those that see microprocessors once in a blue moon review quickly but it can teach those that have been around them awhile better methods of doing things.

This is my first book on PICs. I have truly learned a lot about assembly programming from this, but I have supplemented it with tutorials on the internet. There are quite a few instances where you think "well, what does he mean by this?," yet the author doesn't always clear it up. Generally speaking, the author does a good job of walking you through the code and hardware hookups, which is very helpful.

This book surely needs some editing. The author is not a big fan of commas and often phrases things in a slightly awkward way. This is but a minor annoyance as the point is still understandable after a short moment of reflection.

I would also like to see an updated version that introduces the PIC16F628 instead of the PIC16F84, which is understood to be obsolete (though still useful) as the 16F628 is more modern, cheaper, and generally perceived to be a replacement of the 16F84.

With all of that said, I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn assembly on the PIC. It certainly helped me!