Re: PIC under Linux developpement Howto

On Tue, 2005-07-05 at 15:08 +1200, David McNab wrote:
> Christopher Bergeron wrote:
> > I'm going to have to second this one.  However, there's a part of me
> > that thinks that having choices will be confusing to newbies.
> 
> Well. in the light of all this reaction, allow me to amend my original
> suggestions:

I don't think you've quite understood most of the reaction :-(

Also I think there is a flaw in your plan.....

>  * tutorial should include a section on gpsim, using .map and .lst files
>    so user can correlate the high-level code to the raw binary; should
>    walk user through:
>     - setting up gpsim config
>     - single-stepping and use of breakpoints
>     - inspecting SFRs and user data memory contents

How is a new user with NO knowledge of assembly language going to make
any sense of a .lst file , or use gpsim , or single stepping , or even
know what the SFR are, and as for banked memory......  ? 

How often do you run "gcc -S" and look at the assembler code ?  And if
you did would you understand it ?  The point is that for bigger
processors you never need to, but for processors that are not a good
match to the C model you need to be able to "look under the
bonnet" (that's "look under the hood" for US readers ;-) ) to see what's
actually going on when things don't work as you expect.


> This approach eliminates the complication of multiple
> chips/languages/programmers.

But you've already required them to understand two languages !

Peter