Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The persistence of microcontrollers


So lots of people have commented or asked "What is this / why bother with microprocessors? Whats the point of learning to write programs for them when you can get 8+ cores to work with?

It might surprise you to learn that roughly 55% of all CPU's on the market are 8bit micro controllers*. Yes 8bit micro controllers, not the latest Intel or AMD processor.

That's because micro controllers are in every part of our lives. Your DVD player? Micro controller. Your remote for the DVD player? Micro controller. Those lights that go off and on automatically? Controlled by a micro controller. Your cell phones? Yup More micro controllers. They keyboard I'm typing this with right now has a micro controller inside of it. Just about any piece of electronics you can think of have micro controllers.

So Micro controllers aren't going out of style anytime soon as they are everywhere. That's why learning how to program for them is still relevant, in fact that's where as a programmer you can make serious bank. Being good at micro controller programming.

*Sources:
http://www.eetimes.com/discussion/other/4024488/The-Two-Percent-Solution
http://web.archive.org/web/20070220134759/http://www.circuitcellar.com/library/designforum/silicon_update/3/index.asp
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19 comments:

  1. Aaron M. GipsonFebruary 23, 2011 at 10:53 PM

    I don't see how we could possibly get away from using microcontrollers for at least the next 30 years on as large a scale that we currently do.

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  2. Igneel21February 24, 2011 at 1:09 AM

    most people keep thinking something invented 20 or so years ago will go obsolete right away just because technology its advancing, but hey, we still use lightbulbs dont we?

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  3. PekkaKFebruary 24, 2011 at 3:21 AM

    Yeah and I think they're not going anywhere.

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  4. ShahanFebruary 24, 2011 at 5:08 AM

    Microcontrollers shouldn't be ruled out until something progressively and ultimately better is conceived.

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  5. ebm93February 24, 2011 at 8:22 AM

    The only thing about them is that they will change and become better.

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  6. The GovernorFebruary 24, 2011 at 8:33 PM

    the whole concept of micro chips still blows my mind

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  7. husarFebruary 25, 2011 at 1:50 PM

    It is very interesting, nice post

    + followed:)

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  8. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2011 at 3:51 PM

    They need to make a chip that can make me a pizza.

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  9. PiepantsFebruary 25, 2011 at 4:36 PM

    Nice post. I'm actually starting school (community college FTW?) heading toward electrical engineering or computer system eng. But yeah, good read sir.

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  10. diegoFebruary 25, 2011 at 5:00 PM

    i actually like your blog..i usually just post nice thing but i'll be back for sure

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  11. zabuzarFebruary 25, 2011 at 5:16 PM

    why would we want to not use them?
    they are the future, we could be automating everything by now, including transport.

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  12. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2011 at 5:31 PM

    Very interesting, nice post dude. I thank you for the info.

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  13. tcrossoFebruary 25, 2011 at 6:07 PM

    Thats actually quite suprising.
    Nice post, very interesting.

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  14. NeuroFebruary 25, 2011 at 6:10 PM

    They look kinda hard to program for though

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  15. Shelby FoxFebruary 25, 2011 at 6:24 PM

    You even cited your sources! Nice!

    But yeah, it's amazing all the technological innovations that have come from the micro-controller.

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  16. NateFebruary 25, 2011 at 6:32 PM

    I really appreciate that you listed sources, legitimately. I'm quite impressed, very good read.

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  17. FantouGamesFebruary 26, 2011 at 3:00 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. jopjopjopFebruary 26, 2011 at 4:38 AM

    hmm i think that its to difficult to learn programming micro controller

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  19. BassislvFebruary 26, 2011 at 8:11 PM

    thanks for this advice, I think I'll search some material about how to program microcontrollers

    ReplyDelete

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