THE MASTERS OF THE MICROCONTROLLER UNIVERSE
There are two competing formats in the microcontroller universe: The Microchip PIC and the Atmel AVR. The first factor to consider is the DIP packaging and in both formats, both are in DIP packaging. Second one for consideration is the price and in both formats, depending on the pin set-up, both formats have price and power to boot. As for languages used, both are equally placed but the AVR is tops with its assembly language set-up. AVRs have a pre-installed compiler with full capacities, constant update, able support for all devices and able to cross platforms. This is most especially seen in C language programming. For IDE software, they come in even. Comparing between the two Full Development Boards, the PIC Kit wins this round. But the AVR use of the new fangled Arduino board, the AVR breaks away with the Beginner Development Boards. As for online support, both fail miserably. But in extras, the PIC wins the category. Over all, depending upon your needs, as a beginner go with a PIC but for advanced techies, AVR is the way to go.
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Masters?
I would be very weary of calling them "masters" of the microcontroller universe. They might be achieving this title for hobby projects, but the real market leader out there is Freescale I believe.
Of course, you will never be able to tell unless you really do a market research (and this costs a few thousands). As far as each micro type is concerned, you will always find people praising either one or the other.
But I stress they are not the market lead in mass-volume projects. Freescale is the boss there, and I think even NEC has a bigger market share than Atmel's AVRs.
Even the source that you quote says they are for DIY projects and also analyses them from this very narrow standpoint.
Regards,
Cristian
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