I didn't say that ARM has NO Flash or NO RAM on-chip. I did say that it can address more than it has. That's not the case with 8052's. You certainly can buy an 8052 with 64 KB of code memory and 256 bytes of RAM on-chip. Some even have some of the normally external XRAM on-chip, and I wouldn't be surprised if, not too far in the future, we see one with the full complement of XRAM on-chip, too. Of course, that will cripple it for use with external I/O.

You can't exploit the full architecture if you have only a small portion of the architecture-defined resources.

The 8052, for example, provides access to 64KB of on-chip code memory, and to 256 bytes of on-chip data memory. It also provides access to external resources, but, at least, its quite possible to buy a chip with all the "usual suspects" on board, thereby leaving the ports for off-chip use. You yourself, Erik, have complained that external expansion in the "usual" way wastes port bits.

It won't be long before they're able to integrate SDRAM and NAND-Flash onto the same chip with the controller core and desired peripherals. Then we'll see an ARM core with a full complement of FLASH and RAM. In the meantime, compilers designed for the full architecture won't make efficiency in using those resources a priority, and that's because they want to make using ANY of the accessible resources efficient. They certainly don't help the microcontroller segment of the market at present. Maybe they'll mature/adapt for micro-applications, but for now, they're not mature.

The SDCC was written many years ago with the intent of being used with a subset of the full memory resource implicit in the architecture. That's what needs to happen with ARM, MIPS, etc, before they can be seen as fully equipped for microcontroller application. I see a window for MIPS architecture, since there's an open-source core that works on popular FPGA's. When people start using that more, the software support for it will increase in quantity and quality.

RE