hi John,

On 3/10/07, John Chung <kravnus@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> > Someone else posted that this has been discussed to
> > death already, but I am new to the list so I missed
> > it.  I didn't want to stir anything up, I just
> > thought that there must be some valid reasoning
> > behind the choice of Assembly that I wasn't aware
> > of.  So unless someone has a reason other than "it
> > is more fun" or "the code that I need already exists
> > in Assembly and not in C" which are fine reasons,
> > let's drop it.
> >
> > -- Don
>
>  Reasons why I choose assembly:
>
> 1) Depends on architecture. AVR with the bigger MCU
> have an architecture tuned for high level language
> like C. GCC support is VERY good for this MCU so I
> choose C.
> Microchip C compilers cost plenty and the compilers
> aren't so great for PIC midrange due to it's limited
> unsupportive arch. for HLL.
>
> 2) Assembly documentation is plenty for MCHIP. Plus
> code samples in assembly. Here is basically the
> support for the given language.

Exactly the same support is available in HLL

>
> 3) USE less memory. Regardless of the language for HLL
> it use plenty of memory of the MCU. Assembly is
> compact in size therefore and USE less memory and ADD
> in more features.

Debatable. An asm beginner may use more memory than an beginner using
a good compiler.

> 4) Speed... Depends on the req. of the application.

Very debatable. A HLL with all tricks already known will be faster than any asm

>
> 5) Debugging. One ought to know the target's assembly
> for debugging the problem which includes the compiler
> output and tracing the problem using some sort of
> debugger. You write in Pascal but use gdb to debug the
> problem. You know how it feels....

Here you have right if debugging is made using MPLAB. However there
are built in simulators and external devices for debugging as well.
Some of them like LED or serial console are well known.

>
> 6) Knowledge. I learn something new all the time.
> Assembly is more expressive in it's language. Unlike
> C++ and C I am able to do all the above and more due
> to it's LAX rules.

Depends of your age and if you're programming for living or just for
fun. I have doubts who is designing with PICs for living is so happy
with asm every day...
Just take a look to the old people reaction from this list.
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