Hi all,

I have been searching around for a decent (read: something I can
understand and readily use) compiler for PIC's, specifically the
16c(f)84 at little or no cost for now. The gnu-pic site really doesn't
have much of use as far as I can tell - the c-like compilers there
haven't changed much in the last year or so it seems and they really
don't seem to be complete. I bought an early version of CCS C
compiler, but the documantation is so horrid, I've never really used
it.

Before I began programming in C, I started out using Pascal and I
always liked it, so I've been searching the web for things like that.

I ran across some interesting compilers, one of which I've used a bit
and like and two others which are tempting to delve into.  I have
really never seen any mention of these on the PIC List, so I thought
I'd let people know about them and solicit opinions on these if others
have been down one of these roads.

I'd like to congratulate both Silen and Wouter (see below) for jobs
well done!! I finally have some PIC tools I can easily use.


**************************************************
Sil (Lars Silen's language)
http://www.kolumbus.fi/larsil/pcomp.htm

I've played with this quite a bit and I rather like it -- not
complicated at all and seems to work pretty well. Original version is
for MS-DOS. Apparently the new Linux version will be a gnu public
licence (GPL) release when it gets a bit further along. The compiler
produces well commented assembly language which you can edit yourself
to tweak things. Unknown commands (e.g. raw assembly language) are
passed straight through to the .ASM file unchanged.  I've used it to
produce snippets of assembly code to embed in a larger assembly
language program for some things I was too lazy to think about in
assembler from the start. There is good documention and some examples
for some simple projects. There are also some examples on how to write
programs for PICBOTS in Sil, which my 13 year old son is beginning to
play with.


**************************************************
Jal (Wouter's "just another language")
http://www.xs4all.nl/~wf/wouter/pic/index.html

This is freeware (if that is the correct term), although the source
for the compiler is not available.  This seems pretty cool, although
it hasn't been around more than a few months so I'm not sure how well
it has been tested. The compiler can optimize code to varying degrees,
produce assembly language or hex files directly, include assembly
language routines, and there is a fairly complete set of libraries for
serial i/o, lcd display, i2c, ... All of the libraries are in Jal
source code and are GPL. The documentaion is quite good. Both DOS and
Linux versions.


**************************************************
C2C and P2C
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Network/3656

Low cost C and Pascal Compilers (free working demo, approx $30 for
registration). Haven't tried these, but the price is right. A Linux
version is supposedly going to be offered for the Pascal compiler.
I'm going to try P2C out today if geocities will cooperate without too
much hype.

--
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Stephen Brown, Ph.D.
New England Research
76 Olcott Drive
White River Junction, Vermont 05001 USA

(802) 296-2401 phone
(802) 296-8333 fax

sbrown@ner.com
http://www.ner.com
http://www.dartmouth.edu/artsci/rox
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