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how do i program the serial to communicate with a computer? what purpose does the serial serve? does it allow the mcu to display what its doin onto the computer screen?
"what purpose does the serial serve?"
It serves whatever purpose you choose to use it for!
"does it allow the mcu to display what its doin onto the computer screen?"
Not directly. But yes, you could use a serial port as one part of one way to do this:
you would connect the MCU's serial port to the computer's serial port;
You would need to write software on the MCU to send "what its doin" out of its serial port;
You would also need to write (or buy) software on the computer to receive data into its serial port, and interpret and display this on the screen.