User manual

Table Of Contents
PICDEM
TM
LAB DEVELOPMENT
BOARD USERS GUIDE
© 2009 Microchip Technology Inc. SD41369A-page 11
Chapter 2. Getting Started
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter is intended to prepare the reader to complete the labs in the remaining
chapters of this user’s guide.
2.2 PREREQUISITES
The labs contained within this lab manual assumes the user:
1. Has a basic understanding of the C programming language.
2. Understands basic circuit analysis.
3. Has completed or understands the concepts contained within the introductory
tutorial: “Introduction to MPLAB
®
IDE and HI-TECH C
®
PRO for the PIC10/12/16
MCU Family Lite Mode Compiler Tutorial” (DS41322B) provided on the
accompanying CD-ROM.
2.3 THE SOFTWARE CONTROL LOOP
The labs used in this user’s guide implement a software control loop in various
configurations but always in the same sequence as shown in Example 2-1.
FIGURE 2-1: MAIN() SOFTWARE CONTROL LOOP FLOWCHART FOR
USED IN LABS
Each block of the software control loop represents a function that organizes tasks into
logical, organized groupings that are called from the main function (main()). Notice
the Initialize() is called only once while the remaining functions are executed
repeatedly. This method organizes the embedded firmware application into a logic
sequence of events:
main()
Loop Forever
Timing()
Initialize()
Get_Inputs()
Decide()
Do_Outputs()