Marc Schmaeche wrote:
> I'm a little bit surprised that you suppose the MPC Compiler to be a
> good compiler. I was using MPC about 2 years ago and switched to 
> MPLAB-C. However I must confess that I'm also disappointed by 
> Microchip's compiler and support.

Thank-you for raising a number of points about MPC.

Our MPC Code Development System has become a distinct product from 
Microchip Technologyâs MPLAB-C, which is based on the licensed 
1995 Byte Craft source code.

Byte Craft Limited is committed to supporting and enhancing 
the MPC Code Development System.  In August 1996 we released 
MPC V1.20b. This release was sent to all registered users 
of MPC. It was designed to stabilize the product and add a 
few features that we thought essential.

á Linker which allows separate compilation and linking of source 
  modules.

á New code generation algorithms which provide improved memory 
  management support on the most Microchip PIC processors. Users 
  of the 16C5x and 16C74 processors will see significant 
  improvement in both code size and execution speed.

á Named address space support has been added to the MPC compiler.  
  This feature gives application developers more control over 
  the placement of variables in the application implementation.  

In parallel to the V1.20b release there was a development project 
to enhance the MPC product.  This project has been in beta test for
several months. In short it adds more data types, significantly 
optimizes calls and jumps, has true local variable optimization,
and no longer has two byte argument restriction to functions. It
supports the user defined SPECIAL memory device drivers described 
in our last newsletter. Memory management code generation has been
changed and shortened. 

MPC has been quietly evolving into the kind of product that we 
want to sell to provide good support for the Microchip PIC 
products and good portability with our other code creation products.

Many Thanks for your comments,

Walter Banks 
http://www.bytecraft.com