The only knock against the msp430 - well two knocks really, is that it comes with value line parts and it isn't ARM. That is the cheapest parts with very minimal RAM. This forces the first time student to really economize, which is good in that it is real world practice but bad in that you can put a lot of effort and write a correct program but still bust the RAM limit which then results in early disappointment. I really like the MSP430 architecture and instruction set but I like the ARM cortex m3 and m4 even better. ARM devices are not harder to learn and they are the way the future is going.
most embedded development is done in C anyways, so the underlying architecture doesn't matter to 90% of the code that an embedded engineer is going to write. The only time it matters is when C doesn't cut it, and the ISR needs to be tighter, or some specific section of code needs to be written in assembler for improved space or time efficiency.
I used the MSP430's years ago when they first came out. Yes, they were really hard to program for and get anything done because of the space limitations. I had a keypad, 8 digit display, and sensors, all on I2C, and processing the keyboard, sensor data and display was taxing. I had to rewrite many portions of the code in assembler just to get the size down. In the end I had to tell the customer what they wanted to do in the hardware they gave me was not possible, and we ended up dropping a few features to get the size down. A later rev of the board used a newer processor with more code space, but I wasn't involved then.
At the time they came out, they were innovative as Low Power devices. There was nothing else like it. These days, there are many choices, and sometimes better choices. Renesas RL78, ARM-M0, Energy Micro, PIC XLP, Silicon Labs, etc. These days, every vendor has low power and ultra low power battery sipping devices, and as a system designer, I'm not married to ARM because it's the future. I want the micro I choose to have the features that I need for the application I am designing for, and I want a supply channel able to give me the parts I need, for at least 5 years. I'll choose 32-bit if I need 32-bit, but sometimes 16 bit or 8 bit is fine too, and it really depends on the application and cost and whats available.
More specifically, I don't need a 32-bit ARM core in a microwave, or a dishwasher, or a washing machine, or the coffee maker. Well, maybe the washing machine could use it, since it might have to process the motor drive data several thousand times per second and fine tune the feedback loop, etc.. etc...
Sometimes I'll use a 32-bit main processor with one or 2 small side processors (like a PIC, or a MSP430) doing specific tasks that need to run out of band. It really depends on the application.
So what's my point ?
don't knock a processor just because it's not ARM, or not "the future". You're only showing how narrow minded you are about the entire microprocessor universe. There is still plenty of future for small 8 and 16-bit processors, and yes, programming for them is a definite challenge.
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