PIC C Compilers

Here's a quick round-up of C compilers for the PIC microcontroller.

Unless otherwise noted, these compilers are commercial. Some of the latter have free "lite" or demo versions. Some are Windows-only, while others are available for both Windows and Linux.

• Of note is the free cross-platform (eg PIC, AVR, Z80, 8051 etc) Small Device C Compiler (SDCC). This looks promising but I have not tried it yet. However, if the command-line help message is to be taken literally, only PIC 14 devices are supported.
• Hi-Tech's PICC C compiler is the main one I've used, mostly because PICC Lite is available for 16F84 which is the PIC device I generally use. It would be nice if it worked with 16F628, but I have yet to determine this. Other PIC device families are supported (12, 14, 16, 17, 18).
• Microchip offers MPLAB C17 for their PIC 17 devices.
• c2c for Windows and Linux supports at least the PIC 12 and 16 families. This is Shareware.
• Here's a brief PIC C compiler review.
• thefreecountry.coms's Free C/C++ Compilers and Interpreters list.

Author: David Benn. Last updated October 9th 2002.