I think this compiler is quite well supported. The crew that does the
updates is quite responsive, and generally doesn't release code before it's
ready. I've used several GCC based compilers, and while the GCC front end
is pretty stable, the back end is what makes some ports good and some ports
not as good. The MSP430 has been very well handled (whereas the group doing
the AVR compiler... Well, let's just say they don't seem to be as
thorough).
Code generation is pretty tight, overall. All the things one can know
and love about GCC are supported. The libraries are very complete,
especially in regards to the more commonly used functions (I don't use
floating point much, so I can't really comment on them).
GDB is reported to work, although I'm not much of a GDB user. I debug
the old fashioned way, with I/O lines and print statements. We're starting
to see JTAG programming support working, which is nice. The C-SPY program
that comes with the FET kits basically sucks. It's ideal of error handling
is to exit, and about 1 out of every 5 times it gets synchronization errors.
The pybsl serial programming software works well, if you're not into JTAG.
All in all, I'm quite happy with the MSP430 port. Dimitry doesn't even
abuse people *too* badly when you report non-existant bugs. And when you
report real ones, a fix is usually less than 24 hours away.
For the record, I've used the compiler with the 'F123, the F147, and
F149 (which is just a large F147).
--John
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]on Behalf Of Ed Sutton
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 17:53
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Mspgcc-users] MSP430 Newbie: Is this compiler fairly usable and
feature complete?
Is this compiler fairly usable and feature complete? I don't mind working
through bugs. However I saw a $125 "commercial" compiler that did not even
support structures or unions.
Background
-----------------
I am looking for a free or low cost C compiler for a microcontroller to do
some experimentation with. I want to add a Ethernet controller chip and
implement TCP/IP. The 8051 has lots of free tools available but I am kind of
tired of the 8051 and ready to try a new micro.
To save time, I want to use "uIP - A Free Small TCP/IP Implementation for
8- and 16-bit Microcontrollers" which is written in C.
http://dunkels.com/adam/uip/
Does anybody have an opinion if this C compiler is mature enough to use
for an Ethernet application?
Thanks in advance,
-Ed
