This powerful 10 MIPS (100 nanosecond instruction execution) yet easy-to-program (only 77 single word instructions) CMOS FLASH-based 8-bit microcontroller packs Microchip's powerful PIC® architecture into an 40- or 44-pin package and is upwards compatible with the PIC16C5X, PIC12CXXX, PIC16CXX and PIC17CXX devices and thus providing a seamless migration path of software code to higher levels of hardware integration