When designers are considering microcontrollers, the assumption is that they are simple devices. However, with the rapid expansion of the industry today, MCUs are growing in both complexity and integrated capabilities. Applications are requiring more functionality and smaller form factors than ever before. As a result, microcontrollers are becoming more full-featured with a broader set of capabilities. Along with this growing interest in microcontrollers, the user-base for MCUs is growing at a rapid pace. For these brand new microcontroller users, the choices of devices and manufacturers can be daunting. The peripheral sets, package options, clocking sources and overall configuration complexity mean that simplicity in programming is crucial for new designers to get up to speed quickly.