Introduction to 8051 Microcontroller

• A microcontroller is a computer with most of the necessary support chips onboard. Microcontrollers can be embedded and are available in a variety of forms to suit practical applications.

• Number systems, such as binary and hexadecimal, are used in microcontroller applications. If decimal numbers are required they can be converted to binary and/or hexadecimal and vice versa.

• There are four classes of instructions namely: arithmetic, logical, data transfer and branch instructions.

• The microcontroller port pins may be required to sink and source currents.

• Time delays may be achieved by using register decrement instructions or by using onboard timer circuits.

• Using register decrement, longer delays can be achieved by the use of double or triple loops.