Beginner's Guide to Programming the PIC24/dsPIC33: Using the Microstick and Microchip C Compiler for PIC24 and dsPIC33 Paperback – February 8, 2012

This book gave me all the tools I needed to develop working prototypes with the pic24. I like that it is written for 2 different platforms, you can learn a little bit about how to work with different setups, which is pretty much a reality working with any embedded solutions.I've followed the author on nuts and volts magazine and really learned a lot - that is why I bought his book,so I cold have a nice concise reference to go by.Great materials and examples - there aren't any other really good PIC24 references out there that are specific to the capabilities of the pic24.

The structure of the book is nice and when I started it looked promissing. Trouble already started when in chapter 1 the author starts about testing the installation of MPLAB IDE, C_Compiler and the board. If everything goes well there is no problem, but if things go wrong there are no solutions. So what is then the use of extensive testing for a beginner if problems can't be solved. For instance if the debugger seems not to be connected the given solution is to connect the USB cable...so yes connected...it still doesn't work. And then? No solution or even a reference where to look.The code from the website doesn't match the examples in the book.Also the quality of pictures and schematics is poor.And then most important. The title suggests the book is about the PIC24 AND the DSPIC33. Well the book is about the PIC24 and by replacing the #include you can run the code with a DSPIC. But that's it there is absolutely nothing about the DSP capabilaties like FFT.Overall I would say it's a really basic start and the book needs a lot of improvement!

I purchased the Beginner's Guide to Programming the PIC24/dsPIC33 because there are very few resources for beginners when it comes to the PIC24. Almost every resource for beginners are for PIC16 and PIC18 series chips. I started with the PIC24 series and I find that the author provides a unique hands on benefit to beginners.I had already purchased the PIC24 experimenter board so I was familiar with Tom and his work. From my experience, Tom has a technical gift, but needs extra resources when it comes to putting a books together. There are cases in the book where the code in the book does not match the source code available for download. There are also cases where the examples are complex in nature and don't educate a new person but confuse them. If the book is revised, it would also be nice if the photos are of better print quality.All-in-all, it's not the best book for the PIC24 out there, but it is the best "beginners how to" book for the PIC24 I have found. To me, the hands on how-to is very important because it's very difficult to learn without the lab work which this book attempts to do.Before purchasing the book, I would do some research and purchase the hardware necessary to follow the examples. Without the hardware used in the book, the examples really don't educate to the level intended. The problem of course is I could not find a complete list of hardware in the book or online. Hopefully Tom will add this to the books website for new people.This is a complex topic, so don't be discouraged, as I don't think any one book can teach a new person how to program a PIC24 in a short time. This book will get you started, but will only be one of multiple resources required.The second resource I find myself using is Microcontrollers: From Assembly Language to C Using the PIC24 Family. This book is written by educators, very well done, and covers more than just the PIC24.Also note that Tom does articles for Nuts and Volts which are similar how-to style articles.

I bought this book to getting started in pic 24 devices using the microstick II. But all the examples aren,t clear explained, and the author doesn't focus the good examples in the microstick, as the book said in the front, it uses another board, to make the examples. So if you are new with PIC24, and buy a microstick and this book to start, is not good idea, you won't find enough clear info, so go for other book, and if you have some experience, go for another book anyways!!

This book does not go beyond what is easily available from websites and on-line magazine articles. In spite of that, I might have added it to my library or passed it on to a beginner, if not for the terrible production quality. The original document appears to have been in color and when it was converted to gray-scale a very coarse screen was used. Some of the listings are barely readable and I see better images in my newspaper. Don't bother with it.

SIMPLISTIC BUT WORKS

Very little information given on the dsPIC33.Many typos and several apparent errors.No information on the DSP features of the dsPIC were included.

Excellent if you have a Microstick.