[sdiy] how you got started with your current µC? (was: Re: Most common ICs)

[Richie Burnett]

Thomas Strathmann wrote:

> BTW, how is the situation of using C on PICs (or dsPICs for that matter)?

As others have said C works fine for basic PICs.

However, I do all my DSP work in assembler, so I have no idea how well C 
works for DSP algorithms operating in the MAC unit with extended precision 
accumulators, pre- / post-incrementing pointers, accumulator write-back, and 
things like saturation arithmetic.  Personally, I just take care of it 
directly in assembler.  It's not a problem.  You do have to learn about the 
architecture of the specific processor, and the resulting code is not as 
portable to another platform, etc...  but this degree of familiarity and 
detailed optimisation can be the difference between an application being 
achievable or not achievable when it comes to the tight loops used for 
intensive FIR or IIR filtering.

-Richie,