User`s guide

MPLAB

IDE User’s Guide

FIGURE 1-4: PICmicro

MCU DATA SHEET – INSTRUCTIONS (EXCERPT)

2. Compile, assemble and link the software using the assembler and/or compiler

and linker to convert your code into “ones and zeroes” – machine code for the

PICmicro MCUs. This machine code will eventually become the firmware (the

code programmed into the microcontroller).

3. Test your code. Usually a complex program does not work exactly the way

imagined, and “bugs” need to be removed from the design to get proper results.

The debugger allows you to see the “ones and zeroes” execute, related to the

source code you wrote, with the symbols and function names from your program.

Debugging allows you to experiment with your code to see the value of variables

at various points in the program, and to do “what if” checks, changing variable

values and stepping through routines.

4. “Burn” the code into a microcontroller and verify that it executes correctly in the

finished application.

Of course, each of these steps can be quite complex. The important thing is to concen-

trate on the details of your own design, while relying upon MPLAB IDE and its compo-

nents to get through each step without continuously encountering new learning curves.