26 Nov
2009
26 Nov
'09
7:58 p.m.
On 26 Nov 2009 at 18:53, Tony Duell wrote:
Then there's the thign that I can wire pins (and
design TTL circuits)
a lot faster than I can write microcontroller firmware. Period. Of
course once I've written the firmware, I can program aas many
microocontrollers as a I want, but this is hardly going to e a
large-volume project.
I think I could wire up the necessary TTL chips in less time that it
would take me to type-in read-written source code, assembly it and
program it into a microcontroller.
The right tool for the task.
Microcontrollers have the advantage that they're inexpensive and take
up little real estate. Similarly, CPLDs and FPGAs can wield a
tremendous bang-for-the-buck. If you don't like programming
(assembler, C, Verilog or VHDL), that's your preference. I'm
constantly being surprised at what someone has done with a $2
microcontroller and little else. Some of the little microcontrollers
sport speeds that would give me indigestion implementing in SSI TTL
or even ECL.
Yes, it's true that you can do things with SSI or discretes--and I
still do occasionally. But increasingly, I'm using one or more
microcontrollers and/or programmable logic to do what I want--at
least in the digital world. A piece of well-written code can be just
as elegant and satisfying as a good circuit design.
--Chuck