"John Miles" wrote in message
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Which is something I can't begin to understand. With the AVRs, you get
a faster chip with an industrial-strength C/C++ compiler that also
happens to be free (as in beer).

Well, there are a couple of things here.

First of all, Microchip was early to the game. As a result, there is a lot
of tutorial information out there. Admittedly, a lot of it is really bad,
but it's existence helps people get over the hump. And lets face it,
deploying a microcontroller really isn't very hard, but getting over the
initial fear is. The huge number of PIC projects out there helps people
feel like maybe it isn't so hard.

A second part is the really wonderful simulation capabilities of MPLAB. It
makes it pretty darned easy to see what is going on, and when people are
starting out, that is a pretty big deal. If you look at the hobbyist
project code out there, it looks like 90% or more of them are written by
people "just starting out".

Thirdly is the availability of cheap programmers. Yes, I know the AVR is
even simpler to program than the PIC, but it hasn't drawn literally hundreds
of programmer designs, almost all of which can be built cheaply. This is
another consequence of Microchip being early to the game.

And actually, I think an advantage the PIC has is that, at least for the 16F
PICs, all the C compilers are truly horrid. When you are going to deploy a
microcontroller, any microcontroller, you really need to understand what is
happening at a pretty basic level. Once you have a lot of expertise in a
particular part, then a compiler can be a big productivity boost. But until
you have a lot of expertise, the compiler can really get in the way.
Fortunately for the PIC community, most of the compilers are bad enough that
you're not real tempted to use them.

Actually the AD9850 comes in a SOIC package with 20 pins/inch, or half
the spacing of a normal DIP IC, rather than a TSSOP (0.5 mm lead pitch,
or about 50 pins/inch).

I've never seen a 9850 in an SOIC. That certainly would be easier to use.
Where did you find such a thing? When I check AD's web site, all I see is a
choice whether I want my SSOP's on a reel or not.

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