PIC MCUs in BASIC

[extrapilot]

Hi Sven/all

Yes, you did put a smiley, but you also said you were going to step down on Basic

I do think this an important topic though- because, for those very new to software development for microcontrollers, there may be a lack of confidence in Basic tools out there. IMO, many of the newer Basic packages can take you very far in the development process. A nice thing about MikroE (and possibly others?) is that you can develop functions in C or Pascal and then include them in your Basic library. This is very helpful for shared code (i.e open source). And there is always in-line ASM- so you can leverage more advanced/compact programming as your skills improve. I just cannot see the average 'new guy' (who has not had a few semisters of programming at university) dealing with assembly or even C in conjunction with the complexities of a uC (which have a pretty steep learning curve as-is). But then, I can barely chew gum and program at the same time

Kind regards,
Rob

[davesaudio]

Suppose we should have the correct links to the latest
JALv2 releases


http://www.casadeyork.com/jalv2/

Stef's pages are good tho...

Dave

[Steve-Tee]

These discussions are very useful indeed.
Back in mid 2005, I looked into PICs and instantly fell in love with them .
Their versatility is really quite awe inspiring.
I needed to develop a new product for international sale, and the PIC was the most suitable choice.

Ok, there is a bit of a steep learning curve associated with programming them in ASM, but it's worth the effort.
I started out with ASM, as I wanted the fastest and leanest code I could get.
The results soon started flowing in, and these wonderful little chips began earning their keep for my employer.
Back then, I thought that ASM was the only way to go.

Just now, I have discovered PIC Basic. The one that Mikroelektronica offers, seems to be very powerful indeed.
The demo version is able to deliver 2KB of hex code. Wow! that is a heck of a lot when you consider how much work a couple of KBs of code can do .

This application also features a number of sample projects, and circuit diagrams, to help beginners get started.
In so doing, it helps to build confidence in one's own skill base.

So, after all this time working with ASM, I think it's time to take a good look into the programming power that this application, and similar ones, can offer.
By combining one's existing ASM knowledge with the output from Pic Basic interpreters, those pics are really going to come to life .

My CNC project uses 4 of them, one for each motor axis. Wow, do they save on discrete parts or what?
Long live the PIC and the Pic Basic compiler .
May many more experimenters look into this wonderful Microcontroller - and the superb support infrastructure that has been developed for them.

Best wishes,
Steve.

[FunnyNYPD]

PICC is always recommended by Microchip FAEs.

[rgammage]

Hello

I use the SourceBoost compiler for C .... if their Basic Compiler is as easy to use it will be very good. www.sourceboost.com

Richard

[kiwichris]

A slightly delayed reply to this thread, but gcbasic:

http://gcbasic.sourceforge.net/

Is open source (Free) and looks pretty cool so far (I've been using it for a couple of projects over about a month.) It's quite new I think, from some time in 2006 or so.

Positives for me: Open source, inline assembler, full access to hardware, and being actively developed. It's a true compiler, and produces an asm file you can interrogate, and you can change the libraries if you want as well, in terms of the asm they produce.

I joined the forum for it and posted one trivia bug, the key developer fixed it in a day or so and made a release, and that is typical.

I started looking at pic basic's for my dad as it happens, he was getting into doing some ham radio stuff with digital IC's and wanted a stamp like product, but the basic stamp itself is a bit pricey here. I've built him a 'stamp alike' using gcbasic and a bootloader with a pic16F876, and I'm just doing a PCB for it using a PIC18F2520 to get a bit more grunt for stuff I want to do.

Was reading some old threads and thought I'd Just add my2c worth..

[panmanee]

mikrobasic http://www.mikroe.com

[B Morris]

OK I am in. How do I down load PicForge Pic Basic Compiler?
Bart