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???
03/06/10 09:16
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#173900 - documentation
Responding to: ???'s previous message
Documentation of SDCC is basically a single file, sdccman.pdf, from the zipfile I mentioned above; the same can be seen online at http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/doc/sdccman.html/ (linked to directly from the SDCC homepage).

While chapter 1 is some boring intro and chapter 2 is indeed the configuration/installation stuff (boring enough, too :-) ), from chapter 3 on it is the "real" user manual you might be looking for (with more boring stuff in chapters 8 and 9).

Richard said:
[...] not one that clearly tells you how to use SDCC in order to produce useable output, simulate it, and install it in your target environment without clobbering you with countless configuration options.


Okay, let's try to come up with some remedy.

I think what I've written in my previous post is a concise enough version of "how to install" (assuming the typical user is Win-oriented - anyway, the Linux folks appear to be used to more complicated ways of doing things :-) ).

So now for the producing useable output etc.
Chapter 3, first verse of sdcc manual said:

For single source file 8051 projects the process is very simple. Compile your programs with the following command sdcc sourcefile.c. This will compile, assemble and link your source file.

The output hexfile is called sourcefile.ihx - the not-that-standard .ihx extension appears to be one of the major gotchas of SDCC as far as new users are concerned.

Simulation might be a problem. The simulator which comes with SDCC is NOT intended for "human" use (it is used mainly for automated "quality testing" by the development team). There appears to be a convoluted way how to plug it in into a human-usable GUI, called ddd, but that's available only under Linux. Jens Altman's free '51 simulator, jsim claims to support SDCC, but I could not get it working - I did not try very hard, though, I am not really interested in simulations. So, as far as simulation is concerned, you are left with assembler-level simulation in your favourite '51 simulator (jsim is capable to do that, at least), as if you would program in assembler.

Now for downloading to target and running, that's entirely dependent on your target of course... SiLabs, Ramtron Versa, and maybe also others, provide development environment where you can debug SDCC-based applications comfortably, source-level. Note that these are chipmaker-provided tools, so they won't work on *any* '51 - there's a lot of reasons why.

Did this help to clear up the picture a bit?

Jan


List of 39 messages in thread
TopicAuthorDate
SDCC download            01/01/70 00:00      
   Here you go...            01/01/70 00:00      
   newest            01/01/70 00:00      
      Has any effort gone into documentation?            01/01/70 00:00      
         documentation            01/01/70 00:00      
            Just to add...            01/01/70 00:00      
               more howto-s            01/01/70 00:00      
                  the first 'oddity' is ...            01/01/70 00:00      
                     I think you dreamt that one eric            01/01/70 00:00      
                        No - it's a well-known Gotcha! in SDCC!            01/01/70 00:00      
                           Reference: ISRs (or prototypes) must be in same file as main            01/01/70 00:00      
                     linking            01/01/70 00:00      
                        I see it not correct            01/01/70 00:00      
                           I don't understand            01/01/70 00:00      
                              what is it you do not understand?            01/01/70 00:00      
                                 Does it not recognise...            01/01/70 00:00      
                                 Surely not...            01/01/70 00:00      
                                    "magic"            01/01/70 00:00      
                                       That's not the fault of 'C'!!            01/01/70 00:00      
                                       highly unusal, but            01/01/70 00:00      
                                       Try java etc            01/01/70 00:00      
                                 I now see why is this confusing            01/01/70 00:00      
               emulation?            01/01/70 00:00      
                  Source-level debug            01/01/70 00:00      
                     symbol information            01/01/70 00:00      
                        re: symbol information            01/01/70 00:00      
                           hex-file download?            01/01/70 00:00      
                              hex vs omf            01/01/70 00:00      
                     Keil proprietary stuff?            01/01/70 00:00      
                        extended omf51            01/01/70 00:00      
                           omf51 vs cdb            01/01/70 00:00      
                        proprietary file format?            01/01/70 00:00      
                           I don't see why not            01/01/70 00:00      
                              So, what do *you* mean by, "proprietary" ?            01/01/70 00:00      
                                 AutoCAD            01/01/70 00:00      
                           Yes            01/01/70 00:00      
                              patentable vs proprietary            01/01/70 00:00      
                                 Proprietary is a questin of ownership, not protection            01/01/70 00:00      
   bouncing email            01/01/70 00:00      

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