> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brandon Stewart [SMTP:brandonstewart@ATTBI.COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 5:21 PM
> To:   PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject:      [PIC]: PIC development STINKS!
>
> I say that PIC needs to offer free C compilers for their
> product, like some of their competitors, if they want to
> be #1!  It was my understanding that Microchip set out
> to differentiate itself from its competitors by offering
> free development environments for its MCU's (like
> MPLAB).  But today's toys are bigger, smarter, faster,
> and often times the level of abstraction that is offered
> by C is the preferable manner of doing things.  So why
> dosen't Microchip continue their initiative of offering
> real, usefull development tools (LIKE A C COMPILER) for
> free?  Its competitors sure do!  It is my bet that they
> get kickbacks from HIGH TECH not to do this!
>
Todays bigger, smarter and faster toys probably don't use PICs.  I really
can't see what you are shouting about, you are given a (mostly) functional
development environment with a perfectly good assembler and simulator.  If
you are a professional who needs the advantages of a high level language,
then you pay for the best you can buy and that cost will be trivial, even in
the short term on a profitable product.

If you are a hobbiest, then there are hobbiest C compilers available (CCS)
and Scott's SDCC port is well on the way.  However, to use any of these
products to produce compact, fast and bug free code with the minium of
debugging time I'd say that a working knowledge of assembly was almost
mandatory.

If you are really that desparate to program in C for free, perhaps you
should look at some of the more mature devices such as the 8051 which
already have open source compilers.

Regards

Mike

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