PIC Microcontroller Programming for Beginners

Ever wondered how all of those smart devices in your home work? From your TV, to your microwave, to your car stereo….All of these devices are powered by microcontrollers!

In this course, Electrical Engineer, Darius Kruger will introduce you to the wonderful world of microcontrollers. This course provides a step by step introduction to microcontroller hardware and software development and is suitable for beginners in the microcontroller development space.

What You’ll Learn

In this course, you’ll learn all of the basics you’ll need to get started with programming microcontrollers. We’ll also cover a simple project from start to finish.

• Introduction: Course overview and teacher introduction.

• Theoretical Basics: Gain an understanding of fundamental concepts including what a microcontroller is and how it works, as well as learning the basics of binary systems and binary logic.

• Practical Knowledge: A simple, step-by-step guide on how to install the required software, as well as a guide on exactly what hardware and components you’ll need to get started with microcontrollers.

• Fun Project: We’ll walk you through building, coding and testing your very first microcontroller project from start to finish.

What You’ll Create

In this course, you’ll complete a microcontroller based project which creates a multi function decorative lights display. This project uses many fundamental microcontroller programming skills including the handling of binary inputs, binary outputs, loops and delays.

Class Project Description

Build and program a multi-function LED light display using a PIC microcontroller.

We’ll walk through the basics of this project in great detail, and once the course is complete, you’ll have the opportunity to modify the programming of the project to create your own LED light display sequences using the knowledge we’ve learned.

Hardware and Software Requirements.

We’ll walk through the requirements in the course, don’t worry, I’ve kept costs to a minimum, but here’s a list of everything you’ll need, and where you can buy it:

• Software(All free downloads):

  • MPLABX

  • XC8 Compiler

• Tools:

  • Pickit 3 or 4

  • Breadboard