The PIC (peripheral interface controller) was developed in the early '90s by Arizona microchip to meet a demand for a cheap, small and practical microcontroller which was both easy to use and program. The thing that made the PIC so successful was the fact that it was so small compared to the other options available on the market at the time. For example:

size comparation of a MC68000 and a typical PIC

 The above example shows a very clear difference in the size of the MC68000 and the size of the small memory chip (exactly the size of a PIC16F84) next to it. The MC68000 also required external program eprom, memory and control electronics before it would even be able to flash an LED. Comparison:

MC68000 minimum components:

PIC16F84-04/P minimum components (not strictly true, actually.
You can use a RC oscillator in place of the crystal one shown; this
reduces the component count by one!):

(These pictures are not to scale at all!!)

So you can see why they are so popular!!

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©1999 Joseph Birr-Pixton
email: [email protected]