Programming and Customizing the AVR Microcontroller (Paperback)

~ Dhananjay Gadre (Author) "This book is about the Atmel's AVR RISC microcontroller series..." (more)
Key Phrases: beacon controller, micropower regulators, dice circuit, Load Indirect, Store Indirect, Starter Kit (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This reader-friendly guide shows you how to take charge of the newest, most versatile microcontrollers around, Atmel's AVR RISC chip family. Inside, Electronics World writer and astronomy instrumentation developer Dhananjay V. Gadre walks you from first meeting these exciting new computers-on-a-chip all the way through design and ready-to-launch products.

From the Back Cover

PROGRAMMING AND CUSTOMIZING THE AVR MICROCONTROLLER
Packed with examples, projects, code, and tips!

ON THE CD-ROM
*Application-building tools
*Complete source code

Meet the new chips on the block! (and teach them a whole new set of tricks)

This reader-friendly guide shows you how to take charge of the newest, most versatile microcontrollers around, Atmel's AVR RISC chip family. Inside, Electronics World writer and astronomy instrumentation developer Dhananjay V. Gadre walks you from first meeting these exciting new computers-on-a-chip all the way through design and ready-to-launch products. Programming and Customizing the AVR Microcontroller clarifies this versatile chip's basics and coaches you through sophisticated applications, using plenty of examples. Even programming newcomers will be able to follow the clearly illustrated, learn-as-you-go instructions. Yet professionals who need to get a project up and running quickly will find the details they need in the author's comprehensive coverage of the AVR's components and capabilities.

Part of the popular TAB Electronics series, Programming and Customizing the AVR Microcontroller features:

*Easy-to-use explanations of all the AVR's subsystems, with plenty of examples and experiments
*Handfuls of ready-to-try projects, plus useful routines to plug into your own designs
*A confusion-reducing chapter on system design, and a complete AVR system development toolkit
*Hardware-software interfacing help
*AVR applications using assembly and C
*A guide to the best AVR on-line resources
*CD-ROM loaded with all the tools and source code you need to develop applications

Whether you're designing for fun or adding intelligence to products for a paycheck, Programming and Customizing the AVR Microcontroller is the way to go for a smoother ride.

Step-by-Step Projects
Electronic Dice
Morse Keyer
Dual Channel Voltmeter
Kitchen Timer
Radio Beacon Controller
Data Acquisition System
Electronic Lock
Interfaced Pulse Counter
Musical Follow-Me Toy
Plus many Do-It-Yourself Ideas

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics; 1 edition (September 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007134666X
• ISBN-13: 978-0071346665
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #433,538 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A collection of application notes, August 26, 2001

By	Barry Brown (Roseville, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has some good ideas for projects but is otherwise light on content. The first part is supposed to be a reference guide for the AVR, but I've found the free datasheets from Atmel to be more useful and complete. The second part of the book talks about interfacing the AVR. There are some good tidbits in here, such as using IRda, USB, and microprocessor monitor chips. Finally, the last part of the book is a collection of project ideas which I've not found terribly inspiring. Overall, I don't think this was a good value for the money. There are lots of free application notes available on the Net for the PIC or Basic Stamp which can be easily adapted to the AVR. What's really missing from the book is examples showing basic usage of the AVR features, such as the PWM timer, UART, etc. If you are a rank beginner who has never done microcontroller programming, this book is probably not for you. But if you are an intermediate hobbiest looking for some ideas, you might find some gems in here.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Copy and Paste, October 20, 2002

By	Julius Caesar (United States) - See all my reviews

Half of this book is just copy and paste from the Atmel Datasheet. The other half are several projects that gives little explanation of what's going on in the project. Don't waste your money buying this book. Download and print Atmel AVR Datasheet. You learn more that way. The datasheet is much more complete and clear. They are also constantly updated.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for a beginner., January 8, 2004

By	M. Byer (Mountain View, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you already know the Atmel AVR instruction set, skip this book...it is not for you. If you are new to microcontrollers and are thinking about getting into the wonderful Atmel AVR products, this is a great assembly level reference.
Sure...you could pick up datasheets and struggle with the cryptic explanations of the various commands. You could try to read multiple app notes on the Atmel web site. But for a good general overview of what this processor can do, along with well annotated examples, pick this book up.
As a total beginner, myself, this was my first foray into microcontrollers, and this particular book really helped my *comfort level*. "Comfort", it turns out, is an important part to coding one's first project. The examples on the CD are a little slim, but do have some useful sections of code.
Finally, if you have not done so already (I hope amazon lets me put in this address), check out www.avrfreaks.org AvrFreaks.org is the definitive site for questions, answers, examples from real users of the AVR controllers. Combine this book with the AVRFreaks web site and you'll feel like you can accomplish just about anything.
Best of luck.