Why are 8 bit micro's still around today?

[madires]

I'm not sure that's really that fair to make a 8051 dinosaur representative of all the 8bit micros. There are non-fossil 8bit cores out there, you know...

AVR?  Special instructions to fetch a constant from program memory... 

There's no perfect MCU. Any MCU family has some pros and cons. Simply pick the one suited best for the job.

[madires]

8 bit MCUs are also a good starting point for learning about MCUs. If everyone would start with an ARM and embedded linux we would get a lot of bloatware.

[EEVblog]

An MSP430G2553 costs a dollar or two.

A whole DOLLAR? 

[coppice]

Holtek make an 8-bit micro with built-in 24-bit ADC 

http://www.holtek.com/english/docum/8bit_Flash_MCU/67f5630.htm

There are a number of small MCUs with 24 bit ADCs, mostly made for the energy meter market - see TI, Maxim, Prolific, Vangotech, etc.

[rx8pilot]

Holtek make an 8-bit micro with built-in 24-bit ADC 

http://www.holtek.com/english/docum/8bit_Flash_MCU/67f5630.htm

I had no idea, never had them on the research list. Development speed is very important to me, so I would be looking at the dev tools even closer than the hardware. Nice to learn of an option that I did not know about though.

[danadak]

If you look at the Cypress PSOC there are parts well under $ 1, M0
core, all 32 bit parts, as well as M3 core ~ $4. What other vendors do not
have is a rich library of analog (more than just A/D), routability of
connections and modules, on chip .1% reference, DSP capability,
and tools excellent, GUI based, and support both C and Verilog (for the
special HW you want to design).

Core ARM based cores, mainstream of industry now. Both in ASIC,
FPGA, as well as standalone. Cores are ARM M0, M0+, M3, all 32
bit cores. And one family 8051 core.

Tool is called PSOC Creator. Many basic and advanced videos to learn
from.

http://www.cypress.com/video-library


Regards, Dana.

[lapm]

8-bitters are still around simply because you don't always need something more powerful. Simple toys, meteor lights, etc are just perfect for slow 8-bit cores...