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The forbidden word: Assembly!

PostPosted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:03 am
by FlyMan
Are there official documents about PIC32 assembly language? I can't find any.

Re: The forbidden word: Assembly!

PostPosted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:49 pm
by vloki
FlyMan wrote:Are there official documents about PIC32 assembly language? I can't find any.

May be you should search for MIPS32 Instruction Set

Re: The forbidden word: Assembly!

PostPosted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:16 pm
by FlyMan
Thanks for the suggestion, I found several 3d-party sources, but ironically zero ones from the Microchip website, the company for which we invest our money and time.
It's one thing to read generic books and documents about the MIPS instruction set and another to read a book specifically for the microcontrollers that you develop for.
Such Microchip documents are available for 8 and 16-bit MCUs only. I guess that if they make it easy for people to program in assembly language they won't sell as many of their expensive C-optimization tools...

Re: The forbidden word: Assembly!

PostPosted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 11:03 pm
by ric
I'm not a PIC32 user at all, but as I see it, the 8 and 16 bit cores are microchip specific, so they fully document it.
For PIC32, they just use a standard (MIPS) core, and attach their peripherals to it. The datasheet documents all the Microchip specific stuff.

Re: The forbidden word: Assembly!

PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2019 12:06 pm
by FlyMan
Thanks for the help, after searching for days, first the Microchip website for a "PIC32 programmer's manual" or something similar and then the rest of the world (not unusual for a microchip manual, like the PIC32 Family Reference Manual for example that is only available in sections and not all of them exist), I found the critical information in a couple of lines ...on the datasheet.

Actually, only the link at the bottom of the "Note" implies that the developer should look outside the manufacturer resources for ...instructions for their product!

Statistics about how many customers have lost hours or days looking for a big volume instead of a link on a subnote would be interesting.
Especially for a new Microchip forum member that has to wait for ever until his post is "approved".

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Re: The forbidden word: Assembly!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:48 pm
by vloki
I usually use 8bit PICs and "C", but found the "Note" in the PIC32 data sheet at once.
(searching for instruction set ;-)

Re: The forbidden word: Assembly!

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:13 pm
by FlyMan
vloki wrote:I usually use 8bit PICs and "C", but found the "Note" in the PIC32 data sheet at once.
(searching for instruction set ;-)
With "5+ professional years with MCHP products" it is expected that you'll find what you want, when you want, you are not the average statistic sample. ;)

A serious company shouldn't care only about customers experienced with the current market and their current products.
It should provide support to all levels -newcomers are tomorrow customers, ignoring them is idiocy.

BTW, if you search for "instruction set" on STM32xx datasheet you won't find anything. So that's not standard.
But if you search eg for 'M7 programming manual' on their site, you'll find it right away (in the suggestions, or after selecting the 'resources' tab), with their own logo, despite the company is licensing cores from another company and adopts their instructions just like Microchip.