• C and the 8051 (4th edition) | | | |
• 8051 Microcontroller, The (4th Edition) | | | |
• Embedded C | | | |
• USB Complete: The Developer's Guide (Complete Guides series) | | | |
• Programming and Customizing the 8051 Microcontroller (Tab Electronics Technician Library) | | | |

Down and Dirty Detail
Review written by: Paul From Nashua, NH
This book is a very nice example of how to write a technical book on a reasonably complex subject without making any assumptions that the reader knows anything. I had never touched an 8051/8052 prior to this and haven't written any assembly since college. To give a point of reference, I have desigend a few reaonably simple applications on PIC processors (1 8bit and 1 16 bit) prior to being assigned a project on an 8051. After reading this book I realized a whole new level of understanding of things I was fumbling around and getting done, but never really quite grasped the down and dirty detail. I'd been designing my applications in c because I was convinced ASM is too dry and too hard.

Craig leads you down the garden path and before you know it, you actually feel like you should be doing certain things in assy rather than in C. Also, I've gotten a little vision of how things work in the background quite a bit better than before.

Good job! I'll recommend it to others transitioning to this device.

I thouroughly enjoyed this read.

8051/52 Computers
Review written by: Alvin P. Schmitt From Blacksburg Va USA
I have found this book to be very interesting as it was written by someone who learned the 8051/52 by doing in both hardware and software. Get this book!

comprehensive, complete, accurate, concise, well written
Review written by: James M. Pothering From
Well written and complete technical books are hard to come by; this is one of them.
After reading this book one will have no troubles programming and applying the 8051/8052 MCU. I found no other books were necessary.

Clear, Concise, and Useful
Review written by: Matt Long From Colorado Springs, CO United States
Overview
Mr. Steiner's writing is very clear--opening complex topics that I previously struggled to grasp. His prose is plain and easy to digest. This is a great tutorial and reference all in one.

Introduction
"The 8051/8052 Microcontroller" is broken into several sections including Architecture, Assembly Language, Hardware & Single Board Computer, Development Tools, Hardware Interface and Software Examples, and Reference & Appendixes. Each section covers the topic well with the strongest sections being Architecturee and Assembly Language. These sections provide an excellent method for "wading in" to gradually understand the concepts including special function registers (SFRs), memory--internal and external, timers, serial IO, and interrupts as well as helping raeders to understand and use assembly language in their projects.

What's Good
The book is targeted toward people who have some programming experience and understand basic logical constructs and it hits its target well. As a seasoned Windows programmer, it was simply a matter of reading through the text for me to understand most of the concepts on the first reading. I was riveted because I was understanding so much of it. Craig does a great job of not assuming you have certain foundational knowledge. I found myself at certain points in the text asking the question in my mind "yes, but what about...", only to moments later realize the text is explaining exactly what I was wondering about. Very well done.

For years I have struggled to learn assembly language for the sake of gaining a better understanding of computer architecture. This is the first time that it "clicked" for me. I get it and can now write code using Assembly. Now, I will be using C for my projects for the most part because it asbtracts certain aspects of writing the code that are arduous when done in Assembly, however, understanding Assembly has really helped me to see exactly what is going on.

What's Bad
There is really nothing bad about this book. It is not only a good text for deepening in your understanding of the 8051/8052 architecture, but is an excellent reference to keep on your shelf when you need to recall some specific details.

That being said, I would have liked to see a section dedicated to building and/or simply using a pre-built chip programmer. This is really not a criticism because the book is really comprehensive. For me to understand at a practical level, though, it would be helpful to learn how to take the most basic elements (the MCU, crystal, capacitors, etc.) and place them on a circuit board and see them work with code that I've just downloaded to the MCU.

The section on the SBC is really good, but it feels to me like it abstracts an important part of embedded system development--assembling the parts. I want to see how things work outside of the context of a development board. Maybe Craig will add a chapter dedicated to building a basic system from parts and a programmer in the next edition.

Conclusion
"The 8051/8052 Microcontroller" is an excellent book to use to get started as well as a great reference. I have several other 8051 books including "Programming and Customizing 8051 Microcontroller" by Predko, "C and the 8051" by Schultz, and "Embedded C" by Pont. They all have their good points, however, Steiner's book brings things together in a way and doesn't assume much about the reader's base knowledge and gave me many "aha" moments I hadn't experienced with the others. If you want to learn the 8051/8052 microcontroller, buy this book!

A *MUST-HAVE* for ANYBODY interested in 8051/8052 or Assembly Language in general...
Review written by: Josh Keely From Atlanta, GA
This guy REALLY knows his stuff, and the book is so easy to follow. I have NEVER done assembly programming, and didn't know ANY of the syntax. After a couple of chapters, I was programming in it like I had been doing it for years. The way the author lays things out makes it a breeze to learn how to open up the world of 8051/8052. I *loved* the book, and I use it as a reference ALL THE TIME.

Thanks Craig!!!!!!!

Josh