ARM Microprocessors
An overview of ARM, and why we've chosen to use it
By far the most common family of microprocessors in use in embedded devices today, you can find 32-bit ARM microprocessors absolutely everywhere: in your mobile phone, your household appliances, your iPod, your handheld gaming device, your DSLR, your printer, your photocopier, etc. Around 3 billion ARM microcontrollers are manufactured and shipped every year by companies like Analog Devices, Atmel, Freescale, NXP (formerly Phillips), Samsung, Texas Instruments and others. (ARM doesn't actually manufacture any chips themselves, they simply license their intellectual property to other 3rd party manufacturers.)
It's a conscious decision on our part that almost all of our tutorials are based on ARM microcontrollers. It's the most important commercial architecture in use in embedded devices today, and our thinking is that if you're just getting started, you may as well start with an architecture that will be able to meet almost all of your performance and product needs now and in the near future. (The second reason we've chosen to stick to ARM microcontrollers is simply because there are already a tonne of excellent resources out there on 8-bit or other 32-bit MCUs such as Atmel's AVR, etc. While there is a lot of material available for ARM developpers, it tends to be aimed at a more advanced or experienced audience. We thought there was a need for more accessible material on this important architecture, so we've decided to throw our modest contribution into the collective knowledge bucket.)