How to avoid detours when learning microcontrollers

I have been engaged in analog hardware circuit and single-chip microcomputer hardware and software design for many years. I took a lot of detours in the early stage. Just like you now, I searched in many science and technology books and wandered among many single-chip microcomputers. There are many types of single-chip microcomputers. I don’t know which one to learn. I am afraid that one person will not have enough energy to learn every single-chip microcomputer. How can I get started quickly? Here, the author makes some suggestions from several aspects.

For beginners, it is best to buy a good 51 single-chip microcomputer textbook. There are many such books in bookstores at present. Most of them are copied from me and from you. The content is stereotyped. I recommend you a good book "8051 Single-chip Microcomputer Practice and Application" (published by Beihang University). Then slowly understand the hardware structure diagram of the 51 single-chip microcomputer. Don't think that this is the job of hardware engineers. In fact, in the design of single-chip microcomputer systems, the design of software and hardware is completed by one or two people. If the system is relatively large, the design of software and hardware will be designed separately by special people. But in any case, engineers who only know hardware but not software or only know software but not hardware cannot stand firm in the single-chip microcomputer design industry. In a word, if you just have fun, you can not learn hardware. If you want to be a master, you'd better have a deeper understanding of the internal structure of the single-chip microcomputer and the peripheral interface circuit. This is a long process. It needs to be guided by practice to continuously improve your software and hardware design capabilities. This is growth! The author started the design of the 51 single-chip microcomputer software from assembly, and I suggest you start from assembly too! Because assembly can help us remember the structure diagram of the registers of the 51 single-chip microcomputer and the functions of various registers. If you are a beginner with a basic understanding of assembly, you can also start learning from C language, but you must be familiar with the functions of various registers! To get started with assembly, you must first remember those broken instructions, pay special attention to the design of interrupt programs and communication programs and the settings of related registers, and then design a small program according to the book. You can also copy the program in the book and compile it on a compiler, but you must understand the program. As for the use of the compiler, Mr. Shi’s page has been introduced. The author has a genuine KEIL 51 (V6.23) compiler that can compile assembly language and C language, supports multiple simulators, and has soft simulation functions. If you need it, please see Note 1.

For good learners with a certain foundation, it is relatively quick to get started with C language. I recommend you a good book "Single-Chip Microcomputer C Language Programming" (published by Beihang University, edited by Ma Zhongmei). At this time, what you need to do is to improve your own software and hardware design level. It is best to have other people's template products as guidance, understand other people's software and hardware and his design intentions, and then draw a program flow chart by yourself, participate in other people's software and hardware and his design intentions, and write a program with the same function. Constantly modify it. If you can realize the function of the template program, this is your achievement! If you don't have a template product, then you must have the following hardware: 4 X 4 keyboard, 7-bit LED display, DEMO board.

For technical personnel with certain programming experience, it is important to learn more about the design framework of other people's products. The more the better!