PIC vs Arduino?

[Shane Hathaway]

On 08/23/2011 12:45 AM, S. Dale Morrey wrote:
> However I've made up my mind, after looking at the overall support and
> talking to customer service at both Microchip Direct&  Mouser, it
> looks like the clear winner for speedy development with lots of
> community support is going to be an Arduino, supplied by Mouser.  I
> have to admit they have the best customer service&  sales team I've
> ever seen.
> I placed my order today&  got a tracking number today.  Just checked&
> my uno landed in Salt Lake a few hours ago.  I'll keep you folks
> updated on my progress.
>
> Thanks for all the advice&  keep it coming, I'm still very curious.

I've written a few small programs at home for both PIC and Arduino in 
the past few years.  Starting with a PIC, I first wanted to get dirty 
and write in assembly language, but I quickly realized just how quirky a 
PIC really is and how little I cared about optimization (I was building 
a game for kids) so I switched to a C compiler.  I also tried some 
custom language (can't remember which), but that language had no support 
for arrays, making it extremely limited.

Later on, I played with RepRaps and learned about Arduino.  I found it 
very easy to update and fix code with an Arduino.  For prototyping, the 
ease of development with Arduino easily offsets the extra cost.  I 
really should have built the kids' game with an Arduino.  I would have 
had extra time before Christmas to add more features and make it easier 
to use.  Oh well, next time I will!

Shane