Regarding the suboptimal code mentioned earlier (I've deleted that
message):

1) The sequence

        if(RB0) a |= b;

could indeed be improved by one word. Thanks for that. It will be done.

2) Regarding shifting of longs, I couldn't find a problem. The compiler
generates
    32                           ;x.c: 10: c <<= 8;
    33  03EC  0811                      movf    ?a_main+4,w
    34  03ED  0092                      movwf   ?a_main+5
    35  03EE  0810                      movf    ?a_main+3,w
    36  03EF  0091                      movwf   ?a_main+4
    37  03F0  080F                      movf    ?a_main+2,w
    38  03F1  0090                      movwf   ?a_main+3
    39  03F2  018F                      clrf    ?a_main+2

which looks pretty good to me.

Cheers, Clyde

--
Clyde Smith-Stubbs               |            HI-TECH Software
Email: clyde@htsoft.com          |          Phone            Fax
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HI-TECH C: compiling the real world.