I have obviously not given much attention to this site, but I am still here on Prince Edward Island, well into my 70’s and still active in managing our Summer kitchenette suites and publishing other books for friends as well as a new edition of Revisiting Scripture. I have recently been busy getting in wood for winter heat as well as maintaining our woods and trails. I still enjoy the mental challenge of combining electronics and computing, but I expect the high levels of integration are replacing much of what I knew. I hope the underlying principles of C and the 8051 will remain valid and useful to you for years to come.

The price for C and the 8051 has remained constant since the latest edition was released… and considerably less expensive than most microcontroller texts. Unfortunately my printer, Lightning Source, has revised their price schedule and now defines the book size as ‘large’, increasing the per/page cost. While I do not aim to get rich, at the present price the book is netting me about $1 per copy sold and I soon might have to pay for each copy! So the price has been increased effective July 30 to $49.95 US. Of course, buying online Amazon works with their 50% discount to bring it in at a lower price to you, but it should provide a reasonable, say $10, royalty to me. If you are hesitating, now would be the time to buy before the price goes up.

While I welcome comments, I am dismayed by the flood of spam…totally unrelated to the topic…which flood this site. Only very rarely do I get any comments, so the following, posted with the author’s permission. is particularly significant:

> From: Никита Селедников
> Sent: Friday, March 14, 2014 11:39 AM
> To: schultz@pei.sympatico.ca
> Subject: Thank for your book and my point of view for 8051 microcontrollers

Good day, Thomas! I’ve finally made it to writing this letter.
First of all, I’d like to thank you for your giant work with the “C and 8051” book and describe you a little of how handy it is for me.

 I first got some interest in the early summer of 2012, right after I returned from the Army Service(Here in Russia it’s a duty for everyone). At that time I hardly imagine how the MCU works, but I had a strong willing to bound my future with the Internet of Things( I thought and think now that it’s The Next Big Thing). When I started digging, I discovered, that all serious wireless IoT systems work on the 8051MCU. I suppose you heard about ZigBee(though there are ARM solutions), but both Enocean and Z-wave(my favorite, which I’m working now with), all of them are working on 8051 MCUs. So right now the 8051 is not just alive, it perfectly fits the needs of the IoT, where small, energy-efficient MCU rules.

Since that time I studied some books, regarding MCU and C and finally past summer I got the job in a company, who creates Z-wave devices, my dreams were completed but then came the understanding, that I’m a complete ignoramus in programming. And then in a datasheet, I met the reference to your book. After it I found the scanned version of your book in the internet. It was a first edition, so a bit outdated, but it impressed me so much, that I bought your 4th Edition on the Amazon, and made it my everyday-book.

Right now the Z-wave MCU have a lot of built in functionality, I attach the brochure on last generation of MCUs.

All this modules have built in radio transceiver, and working with it is still a mystery for me, so I’d glad if you can recommend me anything, that can help me to clear it for me. —
Best regards, Nikita Selednikov