4 ms·

Back in China my first comp arch class used 8051, it was fun. I remember everyone getting a development board and playing with assembly.

userbinator 2y ago
8051-core SoCs seem to be found in tons of cheap Chinese electronics. MP3 players, toys, SD card/USB drive controllers, touchscreen drivers etc.
- kragen 2y ago
  Yeah, the 8051 family is still pretty popular, unlike, for example, the 68HC11/08/12 etc.. I think it's not as popular as the PIC, ARM, AVR, or even MSP430, but it seems to be more popular than STM8, M16C, SH-4, MAXQ, MIPS, or 8086. I'm not sure how to assess the Z80 (8080 variant), Z8, RL78, and RX families, all of which seem to be showing disturbing signs of life. Fortunately the 8048 seems to be dead.
  - userbinator 2y ago
    I think it's not as popular as the PIC, ARM, AVR, or even MSP430 Far more 8051 cores are shipped than all of those combined, excluding ARM.
    - kragen 2y ago
      Even today? That's plausible, but I'd like to know what leads you to believe it. I was mostly looking at Digi-Key stock numbers, which are at best a very imperfect measure.
rramadass 2y ago
For an excellent (and free) 8051 book with lots of C code see Michael Pont's Patterns for Time-Triggered Embedded Systems - https://www.safetty.net/publications/pttes https://www.safetty.net/publications/pttes
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  Thanks, I have heard a lot of good words about this book.
  - rramadass 2y ago
    I have all of Michael Pont's books. The reason? Everything is in C (lots of code) and not a line of assembly in sight! And his focus is on time-triggered architectures suitable for real-time in addition to "standard" event-triggered architectures. Thus one gets to learn both the control paradigms in a unified manner. His earlier books use 8051 while the later books deal with ARM. And all of the code/teaching is for "industrial strength" apps and not merely for "hobby" purposes. So here too you get a broad spectrum. Books - https://www.safetty.net/publications https://www.safetty.net/publications Video Lectures - https://www.youtube.com/user/SafeTTynet/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/SafeTTynet/videos

userbinator 2y ago

8051-core SoCs seem to be found in tons of cheap Chinese electronics. MP3 players, toys, SD card/USB drive controllers, touchscreen drivers etc.

kragen 2y ago
Yeah, the 8051 family is still pretty popular, unlike, for example, the 68HC11/08/12 etc.. I think it's not as popular as the PIC, ARM, AVR, or even MSP430, but it seems to be more popular than STM8, M16C, SH-4, MAXQ, MIPS, or 8086. I'm not sure how to assess the Z80 (8080 variant), Z8, RL78, and RX families, all of which seem to be showing disturbing signs of life. Fortunately the 8048 seems to be dead.
- userbinator 2y ago
  I think it's not as popular as the PIC, ARM, AVR, or even MSP430 Far more 8051 cores are shipped than all of those combined, excluding ARM.
  - kragen 2y ago
    Even today? That's plausible, but I'd like to know what leads you to believe it. I was mostly looking at Digi-Key stock numbers, which are at best a very imperfect measure.

rramadass 2y ago

For an excellent (and free) 8051 book with lots of C code see Michael Pont's Patterns for Time-Triggered Embedded Systems - https://www.safetty.net/publications/pttes https://www.safetty.net/publications/pttes

markus_zhang 2y ago
Thanks, I have heard a lot of good words about this book.
- rramadass 2y ago
  I have all of Michael Pont's books. The reason? Everything is in C (lots of code) and not a line of assembly in sight! And his focus is on time-triggered architectures suitable for real-time in addition to "standard" event-triggered architectures. Thus one gets to learn both the control paradigms in a unified manner. His earlier books use 8051 while the later books deal with ARM. And all of the code/teaching is for "industrial strength" apps and not merely for "hobby" purposes. So here too you get a broad spectrum. Books - https://www.safetty.net/publications https://www.safetty.net/publications Video Lectures - https://www.youtube.com/user/SafeTTynet/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/SafeTTynet/videos