On 29/10/12 15:52, Peter Bigot wrote: > 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.
As I mentioned, the version of CCS that I used was a little older. I de not have any complaints about the code generation - I haven't done a serious analysis, but it looked fine. My two biggest issues are that global data is not initialised to zero by default (and the manual only mentions this briefly as a footnote, saying something to the effect that they know this behaviour is contrary to the C standards, but that's what the compiler/library do anyway!), and the default choices of warnings, errors, and information messages was terrible in some cases. > > 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. > I hope TI does not consider gcc to be just a "hobbyist" choice - I certainly see it as a professional choice. I have good professional reasons for choosing gcc over "big name" commercial toolchains for many of the microcontrollers I use - and on occasion I have picked paid-for gcc toolchains (such as from CodeSourcery) over free versions of commercial toolchains. But I have also done the opposite. I am a great fan of giving users a choice, and I think it is a good think for TI to support both toolchains (and to encourage third-party toolchains such as IAR and ImageCraft). > (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 > > mvh., David ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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
