gnupic: Thread: C-compiler...

Hi GNUPIC's members !

I've tested some compiler like AnyC and Pic_cc. It seams to be nice
compilers but they don't give exacly the same result than my C-compiler with
MPLAB ( PCW of CCS company ). For instance, the files generated by Pic_cc
are different from those generated by my pcw compiler, and the asm is a
PARALLAX one. And you need to be carefull with the syntax of the C file to
allow the compiler to work properly...

In my opinion, the best and easier one is the the Picc_cc, coming from
SMALL_C, another compiler for microcontrolers.
Because I've not found what I expected, I've decided to developpe a
open-source C compiler, wrote in C++ to make easier to understand and to
perform this compiler. Actually I've just begun and now I can tell you it's
quite difficult to write a C compiler ( particulary the management of the
errors in the source file ) !!

At this moment my compiler works quite well, but it's just the beginning ...
I manage declarations of variables and functions, operations of variables
and constant, and for-while-if loops ...

I hope to spend enough time to propose a first version of my compiler before
the end of October.
I hope too it's not too late for the needing of some people... be patient !

CU
Xavier

On Fri, Sep 01, 2000 at 11:06:05AM +0200, Xavier.Montagne wrote:
[...]
> Because I've not found what I expected, I've decided to developpe a
> open-source C compiler, wrote in C++ to make easier to understand and to
> perform this compiler. Actually I've just begun and now I can tell you it's
> quite difficult to write a C compiler ( particulary the management of the
> errors in the source file ) !!
> 
> At this moment my compiler works quite well, but it's just the beginning ...
> I manage declarations of variables and functions, operations of variables
> and constant, and for-while-if loops ...
[...] 

It is really great!!!
However did you consider porting of SDCC (http://sdcc.sourceforge.net) to PIC
insted of writing the new compiler from the scratch? 
Well I know, that the SDCC generates a lot of temp variables located in the
internal RAM and it is a very serious problem for larger designs even
for 805[12] architecture, but maybe it can be fixed.
Anyway I'm still not sure if C, with its high stack requirements, is a good 
solution for mif-range PICs like 16F84-16F877.
Something like JAL would be great, but unfortunately JAL is not open source
:-(.
BTW. Do you consider publishing your compiler under GPL or other free
licence, encouraging others to contribute to its development?
I hope the source will be GCC compatible?
I'm waiting impatiently for more details about your project.
-- 
			       Greetings & Thanks
	                      Wojciech M. Zabolotny
	http://www.ise.pw.edu.pl/~wzab  <--> ####@####.####

http://www.debian.org  Use Linux - an OS without "trojan horses" inside

On Fri, 1 Sep 2000, Wojtek Zabolotny wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 01, 2000 at 11:06:05AM +0200, Xavier.Montagne wrote:
> [...]
> > Because I've not found what I expected, I've decided to developpe a
> > open-source C compiler, wrote in C++ to make easier to understand and to
> > perform this compiler. Actually I've just begun and now I can tell you it's
> > quite difficult to write a C compiler ( particulary the management of the
> > errors in the source file ) !!
> > 
> > At this moment my compiler works quite well, but it's just the beginning ...
> > I manage declarations of variables and functions, operations of variables
> > and constant, and for-while-if loops ...
> [...] 
> 
> It is really great!!!
> However did you consider porting of SDCC (http://sdcc.sourceforge.net) to PIC
> insted of writing the new compiler from the scratch? 

Wojtek took the words right out of my finger tips.

After, Ralf's question about C compilers yesterday I joined the SDCC mailing
list. I was just about to compose a message concerning PIC support. I'm still
going to do this (but now I'll cc the gnupic list).

Scott