Question

what is the importance of understanding the required datatypes to be used in microcontroller applications. Include an explanation of why utilization of proper datatypes is even more critical for embedded applications than those of general purpose computers.

Answer 1

Answer:- Datatypes in a controller defines the length of the variable that is being used in the program. It is important to understand the datatypes available for the controller. Micro-controllers platform generally has small memory on ASIC/FPGA or any other kit. We need to prevent the wastage of memory locations by using proper datatype for a variable.

For example, to store an ASCII character value, we can use the datatype that assigns 8-bit of memory. Assigning more than 8-bit is a waste of memory. Since ASCII value ranges from 0 to 255.

Most of the embedded devices have less memory on the board compared to general purpose computer which generally has large RAM and ROM in GBsand TB respectively. Thus for embedded systems, we must use proper datatypes for the variables.