On Sat, Oct 27, 2012 at 6:40 AM, David Brown <david.br...@hesbynett.no> wrote: > On 26/10/12 21:28, Grant Edwards wrote: >> On 2012-10-26, David Brown <david.br...@hesbynett.no> wrote: >> >>> Another issue is that TI make and sell their own msp430 toolchain - >>> Code Composer Studio. I would like to hear exactly how TI see CCS >>> and gcc fitting together and/or competing. It is certainly possible >>> for TI to support both toolchains, but it could be a delicate path to >>> tread. >> >> TI is still prentending that Code Composter for the '430 is "real"? >> >> The last time I went to an MSP430 event (which was a few years ago), >> the FAE openly discouraged people from trying CC for the '430. He >> told everybody to use IAR for playing with eval kits (he also briefly >> mentioned gcc). >> >> World+dog seemed to be of a single mind: that CC for the 430 was >> useless, but management at TI didn't want to admit it in public. >> > > Well, I have my opinions on CC for the msp430, and they are not high - > we have a couple of projects that use it, because when they started we > needed to use 20-bit msp430's and gcc support for 20-bit was not yet > stable. But I don't want to go into detail about what I found bad about > CC for the msp430, as there have been several new versions since them - > maybe things have improved.
I have not done an in-depth analysis of CCS versus mspgcc, but believe that CCS does generate better code in certain cases. In language capabilities (including GNU extensions) the current version (compiler version 4.1.1 coming with CCS 5.2.1 is pretty solid, whereas the compiler that came with CCS4 was fairly poor. In fact, the only reason I haven't pushed CCS support for BSP430 out to the world is CCS' stdlib is egregiously bloated for an embedded environment: when I develop applications under mspgcc and port them to CCS, I have to fine-tune buffers and reduce memory all around so things work. To help with that I've split out the vuprintf implementation from msp430-libc, made a few enhancements and options to reduce its size, and will be releasing that as a separate library. The CodeSourcery stdlib is similarly bloated, and I need a capable and small printf(3c) function for Stellaris and EFM32 Cortex-M3 development as well. Since a Code Composer Studio license gets you full compiler support for ARM and MSP430 (and I think C2K) microcontrollers on two hosts covering Windows and Linux for about $450, it's a reasonable next step for somebody going beyond hobbyist needs. (Being a command-line--oriented developer, I do find it a little confusing that CCS = Code Composer Studio seems to refer to the development environment, whereas the compiler is a separately versioned anonymous component, which I think I'm calling "TI Compiler" where it needs to be identified.) Peter ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Windows 8 Center - In partnership with Sourceforge Your idea - your app - 30 days. Get started! http://windows8center.sourceforge.net/ what-html-developers-need-to-know-about-coding-windows-8-metro-style-apps/ _______________________________________________ Mspgcc-users mailing list Mspgcc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mspgcc-users
