Simplify 8-bit display interface

[andresovela]

I simplified the API for the parallel GPIO interface by grouping the bus into an array of pins rather than 8 individual pins. This allows to further simplify the set_value() function.

[andresovela]

Any feedback on this one? Concerns?

[therealprof]

Sorry, didn't get to testing it yet. No concerns from just reading the code.

[GrantM11235]

This only works if all of the data pins are the same type, which is not always the case. For example, in my application p0 is stm32f1xx_hal::gpio::gpiob::PB0<Output<PushPull>> and p1 is stm32f1xx_hal::gpio::gpiob::PB1<Output<PushPull>> etc.

With stm32f1xx_hal you can work around this by "downgrading" pins to a single type, but I am not sure if all HALs support that.

[andresovela]

Yeah, it does require downgrading pins.

[GrantM11235]

20 solves this problem in a different way, feel free to check it out and let me know what you think

[therealprof]

@andresovela I have to agree with @GrantM11235 here that having to downgrade pins is not ideal. The main problem that I see is that using downgraded pins usually cause some additional overhead due to the dynamic calculation of the right addresses and bits and that is not ideal for this usecase.

[andresovela]

Alright. Closing this PR in favor of #20 then. May I ask about the "additional overhead" though? I was not aware of that. What dynamic calculation of addresses and bits?

[GrantM11235]

Here is a simplified example of how set_high() could be implemented based on this example

impl PA0 {
    fn set_high(&mut self) {
        port_a_registers.set_output_bits(0b00000001);
    }
}

impl Pin {
    fn set_high(&mut self) {
        let registers = match self.port {
            Port::A => port_a_registers,
            Port::B => port_b_registers,
            Port::C => port_c_registers,
            Port::D => port_d_registers,
        };

        let bits = 1 << self.pin;

        registers.set_output_bits(bits);
    }
}

To be honest, I don't actually think that performance is a big concern here. With inlining and LTO, PA0.set_high(); and Pin { port: Port::A, pin: 0 }.set_high(); will probably compile down to the exact same thing

[therealprof]

May I ask about the "additional overhead" though? I was not aware of that. What dynamic calculation of addresses and bits?

Usual pins are zero-sized types, the implementation of which get monomorphized into pretty much ideal code. OTOH downgraded pins are by concept unified structures containing registerblock adresses and pin offsets so a generic implementation can be used.

To be honest, I don't actually think that performance is a big concern here. With inlining and LTO, PA0.set_high(); and Pin { port: Port::A, pin: 0 }.set_high(); will probably compile down to the exact same thing

Well, it is theoretically possible that it compiles into the comparable code but it's somewhat unlikely due to dependence on a number of factors (implementation, optimization flags and what not)...