Page 14 - Introduction to Microcontrollers Architecture, Programming, and Interfacing of The Motorola 68HC12

Preface xiii

as the 68300, 500, and M-CORE series. The main theme is that once you understand
the instruction set of one microcontroller, you can quickly learn to program efficiently
on other microcontrollers.
This book systematically develops the concepts of programming of a
microcontroller in high-level language and assembly language. It also covers the
principles of good programming practice through top-down design and the use of data
structures. It is suitable as an introductory text for a core course in an engineering
curriculum on assembly language programming or as the first course on microcomputers
that demonstrates what a small computer can do. It may also be used by those who want
to delve more deeply into assembly language principles and practices. You should find,
as we have, that programming is a skill that magnifies the knowledge and control of the
programmer, and you should find that programming, though very much an important
engineering skill, is fun and challenging. This book is dedicated to show you that.
Problems are a major part of a good textbook. We have developed over twenty
problems for each chapter, and for each section we generally have at least two problems,
one that can be assigned for homework, while the other can be used in a quiz or exam.
Some of these problems are "brain teasers" that are designed to teach the student that
even simple programs should be tested, generally at their extreme values, to be sure they
work. Often the obvious and simple solutions succumb to truncation or overflow errors.
Also, problems in Chapter 11, including the keyless entry design and the experiment
that plays "The Eyes of Texas" on a pair of earphones, are absolutely great motivators
for sophomores, when they get them to work on a real microcontroller board. They see
how exciting computer engineering is. This is having a significant impact on retention.
An instructor's manual, available from the publisher, includes solutions to all the
problems given at the end of each chapter.
This book was developed largely from a book by the author and T. J. Wagner on
the 6809. The author expresses his gratitude for the contributions made by Dr. Wagner
through his writing of much of the earlier book.