Hi to all members of this forum:

Why so long a learning curve for the 8051 microcontroller.

This is my background. High School education only.Took Devry Technical Institute corresponsedance course on computers. Final grade with lab work and final exam. 98%. Took final in school so I could receive a certificate. Loved hardware no interest in software at that time. Became a computer tech and loved working with hardware chips and test equitment. Electronics has been my hobby for the last 20 years making very small test equipment was my passion. I never had basic programming course or microcontroller course. Everything I learned was from these books listed in the order I purchased them.

Books I have read and own for text referance.

1.Assembly Language Basics by Steve Sokoloski
2. The 8051 Microcontroller by Kenneth J. Ayala
3. The 8051 Microcontroller by I. Scott Mackenzie
4. The 8051 Microcontroller and Embedded Systems by Muhammad Ali Mazidi
5. The 8051 Family of Microcontrollers by Richard H. Barnett
6. The 8051 Microcontroller Hardware, Software and Interfacing by James W. Stewart
7. 8051 Microcontrollers Hardware Software and Applications by David M. Calcutt
8. Programming and Interfacing The 8051 Microcontroller by Sencer Yeralan
9. Microcontroller Cookbook Pic and 8051 by Mike James
10. Systems Design and The 8051 The Hardware,Firmware,And Software Design of Microprocessor Systems by Marcus O. Durham, PHD
11. The 8051/8052 Microcontroller Architecture,Assembly Language And Hardware Interfacing by Craig Steiner

In 1998 did all experiments in Steve S. book. But could not get used to Pseudocorp a51 assembler. Also picked up Ken Ayala book. And found it to be too advanced for me. So I quit.
In 1999 picked up Mackenzie book which I liked and all his experiments worked. I also purchased Mazidi book and did most of the lessions.
In 2000 I purchased Barnett book, small but great. I purchased Stewart book but did like format of book.
In 2001 I purchased Calcutt book nice lessions but little advanced for me. I purchased Sencer Yeralan book but all his experiments reqired a Rigel product microcontroller board. So read it put it a side.
In 2002 I purchased Mike James book but had very little on 8051.
In 2004 I purchased Marcus O. Durham but his was written on Engineering level. However I liked the section on IR transmitters.
In 2006 I purchased Craig Steiner book which was very well written. Tryed his lessions.

My question is with all the experiments I have done and books I have read why can't I read other programmers code on this site.
Most of the time they do not comment code and when they do it very little. I am basically talking 30 or more lines of code. Could part of my problem be because I have never had a microcontroller course with an instructor. Or I should have memorized all the terms in 8051 instruction set?
It's not like I did try to learn as much as I could for 8051.
I was very happy when the 89c2051 and 89c4051 came out as it was cheap and small that's why I wrote this post.
What do I have do to improve my programming skills?


Thanks for reading this very long post. How long should it take to be good programmer with 8051 core part? Everytime I have trouble learning some part of 8051 I buy another book to get different point of view. I just do not like to give up.

Best reguards,


Ralph Sack