I agree, the decision of simplifying the processor's life vs simplifying the coder's life is complex.

However, the usage of printf, scanf and friends can impose a heavy penalty on code size because usage of those functions will cause the linker to pull-in all sorts of guff for formatting/parsing every data type (usually including float and double).

In embedded programming I personally prefer to stay away from those functions just as a matter of course. The example I have provided is hardly complicated and lot lighter than scanf.

Matt.