8051 C Compiler

Some Prefer C Programming Language

If you don't like Pascal programming language then you are probably looking for C. And there is a great free C compiler for 8051, SDCC - Small Device C Compiler.

What is SDCC?

SDCC is a retargettable, optimizing ANSI - C compiler that targets the Intel 8051, Maxim 80DS390, Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 68HC08 based MCUs. Work is in progress on supporting the Microchip PIC16 and PIC18 series. SDCC is Free Open Source Software, distributed under GNU General Public License (GPL).

Some of the features include:

SDCC ASXXXX and ASLINK, a retargettable assembler and linker, is Free Open Source Software, distributed under GNU General Public License (GPL).
extensive MCU specific language extensions, allowing effective use of the underlying hardware.
a host of standard optimizations such as global sub expression elimination, loop optimizations (loop invariant, strength reduction of induction variables and loop reversing ), constant folding and propagation, copy propagation, dead code elimination and jump tables for 'switch' statements.
MCU specific optimizations, including a global register allocator.
adaptable MCU specific backend that should be well suited for other 8 bit MCUs
independent rule based peep hole optimizer.
a full range of data types: char (8 bits, 1 byte), short (16 bits, 2 bytes), int (16 bits, 2 bytes), long (32 bit, 4 bytes) and float (4 byte IEEE).
the ability to add inline assembler code anywhere in a function.
the ability to report on the complexity of a function to help decide what should be re-written in assembler.
a good selection of automated regression tests.

SDCC also comes with the source level debugger SDCDB, using the current version of Daniel's s51 simulator.

SDCC was written by Sandeep Dutta and released under a GPL license. Since its initial release there have been numerous bug fixes and improvements. As of December 1999, the code was moved to SourceForge where all the "users turned developers" can access the same source tree. SDCC is constantly being updated with all the users' and developers' input.

What Platforms are Supported?

Linux - x86, Microsoft Windows - x86 and Mac OS X are the primary, so called "officially supported" platforms. SDCC compiles natively on Linux and Mac OS X using gcc. Windows release and snapshot builds are made by cross compiling to mingw32 on a Linux host. Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP users are recommended to use Cygwin (http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/) or may try the unsupported Microsoft Visual C++ build scripts.