Comparison of free compilers for PIC 18F (PICC-18 and C18)?

I know this topic has been debated many times before but when people are asked which compiler they prefer, they usually answer without any motivation. I'm a hobbyist and will not spend money on a compiler. Thus I'm only interested in hearing comparisons of the FREE versions of compilers for PICs in the 18F-family. I've used Hi-Tec for 16F PICs but when I tried this compiler in the free version for 18F you get some disturbing messages. Namely, that the code will run 4 times slower than without the optimizations and that the code will occupy more ROM. The increase in code size I can handle but the slow-down means that some library routines won't work (I think at least), e.g., delay and UART. So I began looking at the academic version of C18 from Microchip. So my question is if anybode has compared the FREE versions of C18 and Hi-Tec's PICC18? Is it worth building custom routines to compensate for the non-optimized Hi-Tec code?

Re: Comparison of free compilers for PIC 18F (PICC-18 and C1

Hi,

You might want to see this little download , there might be similar links for the Hitec
https://www.sonsivri.com/forum/index.php?topic=2374.0

Re: Comparison of free compilers for PIC 18F (PICC-18 and C1

Hmm, well that wasn't really what I was looking for but I'm sure it's going to be useful for some.

thats a difficult question to answer, its like asking which car is better....

Each compiler has its own advantages, you only have to see which one works to your benefit.

When I wanted to buy a compiler for my lab, I had several options.

1. Microchip-- A comprehensive compiler, best suited for PICs, a very good support forum, but pricey compared to others in the market.

2. HI-TECH-- Pricing was OK, but at that time (this was 5 years ago) they used a IDE that looked DOS based, and that put me off ( in any case I could have used MPLAB as my IDE).

3. CCS-- Pricing was competitive, good support. I liked the #use directive especially as its very easy to setup a serial port, I2C port or a SPI port with this directive. They also had a large library of drivers that was very readable.

So my choice was the CCS compiler, I bought the PCM version for 14 bit parts, now 2 years back I bought the PCH for the 18F parts.

thanks

Hi Fearsome,
Since you are interested in free versions, I highly recommend you take a look at mikroC. The free version has no annoying messages or whatsoever, but there is only 1 limit: program word is limited to 2k (which is enough for a hobbyist).
https://www.mikroe.com

Hope this helps.
Tahmid.

Re: Comparison of free compilers for PIC 18F (PICC-18 and C1

Thanks Tahmid for the tip but I will easily go beyond 2K in my project.

Re: Comparison of free compilers for PIC 18F (PICC-18 and C1

Hi
I think C18 is better
It has microchip's full support