| ??? 02/19/08 03:05 Read: times |
#151093 - software choice Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Andy Neil said:
If you're happy with programming in VS, I can't see how an IDE like IAR's Embedded Workbech should be a problem? It's not IAR itself that I can't figure out how to use, it's all the configuration and settings that are causing the problems. It's made to work with so many different 8051 compatible derivatives that I just don't know how to properly configure the software to generate code that my specific derivative chip can understand. I've never set up a C library for a chip, nor have I programmed in C for an embedded application. I can't even get their example programs to compile without error after error about missing *.h files and library files that I just don't know how to deal with. I have dealt with stdio.h files, math.h files, etc. quite a bit in C++ but never had problems like I've had with the more complex, and likely much better, IAR software. Doing it in assembly with the software that came with my eval. board just seemed to make more sense to me given that fact that I can't even get IAR's sample programs to compile properly. This is all easy for most of you reading this but I'm trying to learn all of this on my own and have started from scratch. I'm still not very far from "scratch" but I'm working on it. Not having to deal with library files, header files, etc. was just easier for me. Right or wrong, logical or not, it was my personal preference given my lack of experience. I could not even get a single program to compile or run on my board before I switched to the much simpler Aspire software included with my eval. board so I went with it. Andy Neil said:
In fact, it's often the case that cheap, shoddy tools will make learning a craft harder - not easier! The leap is in the content of your programs, surely - not the environment used to create them? Other than the Aspire tool calling it "compile" instead of "assemble," what else makes it shoddy? When I bought the board, I also bought the full version of IAR Embedded Workbench using the very logic you listed above. Because I'm a graduate student, I paid 10% of the normal list price of around $3000 for the software but I have yet to use it for this project. Not because a Window's based environment is so foreign to me, but because I just have no clue what I'm doing with regards to programming for an embedded system. I appreciate all your patience and advice but please take into consideration that I have no prior experience in this and just used what I could get to work at the time. :-) Brian |
