Best pic microcontrollers books according to redditors

Hey OP, you've received some solid advice here, but perhaps providing more info on what you'd like to do going forward with microcontrollers would help find a direction for further learning. AVR is nicer to use in assembly, but PIC is well documented too, and once you get to C they're very similar. I'd recommend PIC so that you have both bases covered since you've got a good handle on Arduinos. Also, MPLAB X (Microchip's IDE) is pretty solid once you get the hang of things.

If you're a student or advanced hobbyist read on:

I'm an Electrical Engineering student who recently made the transition from Arduino into general embedded programming in C for AVR and PICs as well as assembly for the PIC24. Fortunately my school offered a class called "Embedded Systems" that assumes no prior knowledge of microcontrollers, just of C, and prior experience with Arduino helped a ton for piecing lower-level practices together. This is what I can offer you:

• Here is the book we used in class, supplemented by our teacher's own example programs and guidance, but something free like this would help you out a lot too (although it doesn't cover assembly).
  
  
• I uploaded all of my assignments online with solutions here, so if you're diligent you could effectively take the same course I just did using my materials. The assignments don't start getting interesting IMO until 5 and 6. I also have powerpoints and other resources if you'd actually like to take this approach.
  
  
• We used a breadboard and PIC24EP128GP-202 microcontroller by Microchip. If you're a student, register for their sample program and order two sets of free samples - the PIC24EP series (either 128 or 256) in PDIP and any sort of chip that uses I2C communication (maybe a temperature sensor). Now you'll have a microcontroller and a device to interface with for free.
  
• You'll need an In-Circuit Serial Programmer to program your PIC. The PIC Kit 3 is very popular at my school and a clone version can be had for $10 - 20 depending on how long you'd like to wait for shipping from U.S. vs. China.
  
  
• A cheap RS232 to TTL converter like this will be super helpful for debugging and troubleshooting larger projects... tell your PIC to print it's status to the computer rather than having to stare at a black piece of plastic and wonder why it doesn't work haha
  
• If you're in school, finding a Logic Analyzer that is available to use will be useful when you get into inter-chip communication protocols between devices. We used the Salae Logic 16. The Salae Logic 4 or 8 would probably be fine for learning purposes, and I highly recommend their products. The real key there is the software, and Salae's "Logic" software is amazing.
  
• If you're on a budget and can't afford a real Salae, many people online have had success buying Salae clones for under $10. The key here is to find one that has a chip with a spoofed Salae Logic ID so that the software accepts the clone, and then everything works the same.
  
  
  Good luck OP!! Arduinos are awesome, but moving forward gave me a much deeper understanding of microcontrollers and communication. PM me if you need help / advice.

Well...its a microprocessor...and as the name would suggest it is a really small processor lol. You'll basically have inputs for taking in information from external sources, and outputs to react and control things.

Many people would recommend the arduino for beginners, however I would strongly recommend learning how to program PIC controllers. These are two very good resources for doing so:

http://www.amazon.com/PIC-Microcontroller-Muhammad-Ali-Mazidi/dp/0131194046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375168915&sr=8-1&keywords=pic+microcontroller+and+embedded+systems

http://www.amazon.com/123-Microcontroller-Experiments-Evil-Genius/dp/0071451420/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375169160&sr=1-1&keywords=pic+evil+genius

The first book is too pricey for the current edition, older ones should be cheaper though. I am sure it can be found online too.

Java does count.

As for a book:

I like this one but it uses a PIC16 and the Compiler might not be available anymore, but it might give you a good understanding of PICs in general regardless

http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Embedded-Programming-Microcontroller/dp/1438231598/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1425530439&sr=8-11&keywords=pic+programming

I also wrote some PIC18 programming tutorials in my blog
http://allaboutee.com/category/microcontrollers/pic/pic18-explorer-board/

and some ARM tutorials in youtube
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmfT_cdP5PYBWYvK_bCdGyBqQEiRzUPeq

Good to know he's still around. I've been checking out some books from the evil genius series like this, and have been looking for a project regarding PIC programming. I'll have to shoot him a message and see if he is still in the market of selling his kits or guides. Thanks for the info!

Check out the pic16f84a. It can be programmed in C, but it's mostly designed to be programmed in assembly. It's really bare bones, but you'll learn alot that can be applied to more complex chips. https://www.amazon.com/Easy-PicN-Beginners-Microcontrollers-Square/dp/0965416208 http://www.canakit.com/usb-pic-programmer.html

A couple years ago I had good luck with Applying PIC 18 Microcontrollers by Brey. I seem to recall it had a good collection of practical examples.

EZ Pic'n is an excellent beginners guide to the PIC micro-controller family. I start all of my interns out with it.