On Thursday 25 October 2001 09:52 pm, Brent Brown wrote:
> James Caska wrote:
> > Probably a silly question, but am I to understand the the HITECH-C
> > compiler does not ship with libraries for these standard sort of
> > things? Or does it cost extra or something. It seems odd that a
> > leading compiler does not support this sort of thing.
>
> Not a silly question, but yes, it doesn't come with those sort of
> things. The reason is that it is an ANSI C compiler and those other
> things aren't part of the ANSI standard. This makes it able to create
> portable code that is easy to port to other compilers and other
> chips, without a whole lot of functions you wont find on another
> compiler.

That argument makes sense for non-standard keywords, pragmas, etc., but
doesn't make too much sense for libraries.

Assuming that there's a Standard C library in place doesn't mean as much for
someone writing code for a PIC as for a workstation, for one thing.

But even if the compiler is Standard C and it comes with Standard C
libraries, there's no reason that additional libraries couldn't be supplied
as an added value.

In fact, a compiler vendor could consider it a selling point for their
compiler.

Of course, maintaining the libraries is a headache, and support is an issue...

--
Ned Konz
currently: Stanwood, WA
email:     ned@bike-nomad.com
homepage:  http://bike-nomad.com

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