I've been a PBP user some years now, and it served me well. But, as my projects start to become more & more complicated, I've begun to realize that PBP's capabilities won't be enough for my work. Missing math, string , arrays... are starting to be main problem in all of my new projects, and it is more noticeable now when I switched from 16F to 18F series. After investigating, I found only 3 valuable "players" on market: PBP, Proton+ and MicroBasic. A plain and simple truth is that PBP is less capable compiler of those 3. MicroBasic proved to be good compiler, bat buggy and it has more C than basic like syntax (and I REALLY HATE C). But Proton+ was a revelation to me: it has almost same syntax as PBP and it is loaded with features. Also it is as solid as PBP (i.e. rock solid).So far I didn't try PDS but only older version of standalone compiler, but probably will buy PDS in near future.
My advice to you is: If you are a begginer, go with Microbasic (if you are on the budget) or Proton PDS. With both of them you got more capabilities, but also something even more valuable: the product that is developing, and for witch you can get a new features (for free also).
If you already have some valuable project in PBP, stick with it as long as you can, although limited it is a stable and good compiler, and you will save some money buy not bying another compiler.
Bookmarks