WHICH PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE ??

This is a good time to talk about the various programming languages that one can use to write embedded software.  The two languages I will use in this tutorial are C and assembly language.  The first thing I want to point out is that these are not the only two languages available to embedded programmers, and that in many cases other languages may be a better choice.  That being said, both C and assembly language are useful not only for learning about embedded programming, but also for actually doing productive embedded programming.  They are also ubiquitous in that no matter what microcontroller you choose, it will almost certainly have available both an assembler (for converting assembly language code) and a C compiler (for converting C code).  The same is definitely not the case for other languages.  But I would encourage you to consider other languages if you are so inclined and, big IF, if they are available for your device family.

On the subject of assembly language, even if you don’t plan on using assembly language in your embedded programming, I would strongly suggest that you become at least somewhat familiar with the concepts, and with the instruction set of your uC.  The reason for this is that, even if you don’t end up writing any assembly language, you will find yourself at some point needing to examine the output of your compiler and/or your compiler-supplied startup files written or output in assembly language.

Also note that the term "assembly language" will often be shortened, in this tutorial and elsewhere, to "asm" or "ASM."