Michael,
In my honest / humble opinion, using a complex PIC like the 16F877A has a subtle advantage: once you mastered a proper initialization with all peripherics OFF (disabled) you are already somewhere. Later, you will validate them as needed, one by one, step by step and, always feeeling more at easy. It happened to me with the 16F877. Once blinking the proverbial LEDs I went for an LCD and then for a keyboard. Thinking of interrupts and other peripherics seemed more natural and not a tremendous scaring task.
Simple ones are just that, simple ones. But looking ahead with a certain sense of preparedness for future issues, do not step back. Think of this as a simple, long, never ending ladder. Every problem you solve is a step you climb upwards.
I left the 16F84 because of this and I don't regret it. And I don't feel I need either to go back unless the design requires just that.
Congratulations. Buena suerte.
In my honest / humble opinion, using a complex PIC like the 16F877A has a subtle advantage: once you mastered a proper initialization with all peripherics OFF (disabled) you are already somewhere. Later, you will validate them as needed, one by one, step by step and, always feeeling more at easy. It happened to me with the 16F877. Once blinking the proverbial LEDs I went for an LCD and then for a keyboard. Thinking of interrupts and other peripherics seemed more natural and not a tremendous scaring task.
Simple ones are just that, simple ones. But looking ahead with a certain sense of preparedness for future issues, do not step back. Think of this as a simple, long, never ending ladder. Every problem you solve is a step you climb upwards.
I left the 16F84 because of this and I don't regret it. And I don't feel I need either to go back unless the design requires just that.
Congratulations. Buena suerte.
