Atmel's SAM product line was already confusing as hell.
Like, what is the difference between SAM4S and DAM4N? One said:
Converging Performance and Simplicity
The other:
Scalable Performance, Memory Density and Power Efficiency
Thank you very much. That is soo much more informative, than saying that the STM32F4 is faster with more stuff than a STM32F3. Now, microchip tries to confuse you with even more.
ST/Freescale is awfully confusing as well , e.g sorting out differences between F4 devices has become tedious
throwing in price and the whole hoopla have become silly. ST have become "Microchipped".
pic16 ARE confusing... but one has just to remember that -> doesn't start with "1" like PIC16FXXX, part is old as dirt. starts with "1" like PIC16F1xxx, part is recent.. now the newest of 'em all are PIC16F1xxxx <- five digits and mostly are enhancement over their four digits with simillar name.. 1823 vs 18323
pic18 are a bit less confusing, first digit is number of decades of pins, second digit is size, the rest are family.
dspic are as easy as possible dspic33xxYYYzzKKK
xx: core (F, older slower, E newer. other letter the sub-type of core)
YYY: flash size
zz: family (GP,GM,GS, ...)
KKK: related to pinout
pic 32 are just as easy
PIC32xxYYYzzKmmm
x: type of core, MX,MZ,MM,MK,WK, ..
y: flash size
z: family of chips
K: last letter is type of peripherals, sequential. like E F G is base, with canbus, with also crypto.
mmm: number of pins
not that hard i think