Re: beginner and 8051

noemail12000@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi All,
I'm a beginner and I'd like to start from 8051 . as I can see-the only
cheap boards with jtag are from silabs, right? there are a few of them
for about 70$ , which one should I buy?
will I be able easily move my code to other 8051 mcu like ats89s?

thanks.

Should you write your application in assembly language you will find that you have to rewrite every line to port to another processor.

Should you choose a higher level language like C and are careful to write portable code then yes. I highly recommend Harbison and Steel's "C: A Reference Manual" for pointers on portable code. Unfortunately, well-structured portable C code is a terrible fit for the 8051 instruction set. Your code will be bigger and slower than it would be if you fit your C code to match the processor -- but if you fit your C code to the 8051 then it'll be nasty stuff, and not terribly portable.

If you can afford the extra memory and slow operation that comes with good C on an 8051 it's the way to go, however.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Posting from Google? See http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/

"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" came out in April.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: beginner and 8051
    ... No. Portable code is rarely needed. ... well-structured portable C code is a terrible fit for the 8051 instruction set. ... There is a gain to writing portable code -- if it's going to be ported, ... And if you're writing code for a low production rate the economies of engineering cost vs. per-piece cost will lean heavily in favor of bigger faster processors if it eases the software engineering time. ...
    (comp.arch.embedded)
  • Re: beginner and 8051
    ... cheap boards with jtag are from silabs, ... Should you choose a higher level language like C ... No. Portable code is rarely needed. ... if you fit your C code to match the processor -- but if you fit your C ...
    (comp.arch.embedded)