Why use a microcontroller in an introductory course on microprocessors rather than the x86 family?
At Mississippi State University, our microprocessor course sequence used to be x86-based for the introductory course, followed by an optional microcontroller-based course. The introductory microprocessor course is required of electrical engineering (EE), computer engineering (CPE), computer science (CS), and software engineering (SE) majors. We found that many EE students elected not to take the optional microcontroller course, and this caused problems in our capstone EE/CPE senior design course where some form of microcontroller is usually required regardless of the project emphasis. It was not an option to require EE majors to take the optional microcontroller course as we are under pressure to reduce curriculum hours, the same as many other institutions. The Computer Engineering Steering committee decided that embedded system knowledge greatly enhances the quality of senior design projects, and hence decided to shift the introductory course to use a microcontroller. This change in c
