Proton PICBASIC vs MeLabs PICBASIC

[Fredrick]

Ok thanx.
It´s like PC or MAC then...

So both Proton and MeLabs PICBASIC can do the same job! ?

[mister_e]

yup, both WILL do the same job, the power is back to the keyboard, not in your hard drive...

There's a lot of thread about that here, do a little search within the forum.

[Darrel Taylor]

I too have never used Proton before.

And all I can say is that there was a group of people here that used to be pretty good with PBP, who suddenly switched to Proton.
You'll now find those same people over at the Swordfish forum.

I would not recommend Swordfish for beginning programmers.

But if you're proficient in a language like Delphi (pascal), Javascript, or other "Highly Structured" languages, you might find Swordfish easier to work with.

_

[mister_e]

Down side... for 18F only

[Darrel Taylor]

Oh yeah, forgot about that.

Been back to PBP long enough not to remember.
Yes, I thought I had switched to Swordfish at one point.

But really, I've never come across anything I couldn't do with PBP.
Well, with a little ASM added

_

[mister_e]

and...
{.mod ...}
'
'
{.endmod}



As i said, the power is back to the keyboard.

I agree, PROTON may have better function set built-in. Where's the fun?

[tenaja]

I own both, and for the most part, I agree with the above comments. There are some significant differences worth noting.

PicBasic Pro (PBP) was designed to be a PIC alternative to Basic Stamp 2's. It's very good at that, and its code runs much faster than stamps. It is very easy for beginners to transition to PIC's from Stamps. I've made some good code with it. You pay for version updates.

Proton+ Development Suite (PDS) was designed to be a good PIC compiler, with many commands being Stamp compatible. (They've also added some similar commands that are optimized for your specific use, instead of a "catch-all" command.) PDS has a broader command range, and compiles code much smaller and runs faster than PBP. (My PBP code converted to PDS was about 20% smaller!) The current Beta version, which is available to all licensed users, has many new powerful features, like automatic variable saving for interrupts. (This makes a few of Daryl's add-in code obsolete.) There are three levels of optimization for even more compact code, that can save up to another 15%. For 18F's, both high level and low level interrupts are supported. Plus, you get a development board simulator to test your code in. PDS has a macro capability to make your own commands, and call them with parameters, just like any other basic command. I'm one of those who "switched", and most of what I do is now PDS.

Both forums have excellent support.

And yes, Swordfish looks neat, but it's only 18F's. I'm sure that will change, eventually, but probably towards more advanced PIC's. It's "structured", but that really only has a benefit if you are writing huge code (which 16F's and smaller can't handle). In reality, you can write structured code in PBP or PDS, too; it just looks slightly different.

[tenaja]

For those who don't know, Swordfish was written by the same guy who wrote MicroCode Studio (PBP IDE) and also the IDE for Proton.

[dhouston]

mikroBasic for PIC is another procedural basic. It's very advanced in some areas (e.g. handling interrupts), less so in others. It has a ton of libraries although they tend to be 18F oriented. It's worth investigating if you're trying to decide on a PIC development language. It costs less than PBP and you don't need a license for apps that are smaller than 2K.

[bcd]

I have a copy of MikroBasic, but find it frustrating that it does not have equivalents to SerIn2 command with time-outs if there is no data. So for any serial you need to write an interrupt routine otherwise the serial receive is a blocking command...

But on the other hand it does support GLCD, Ethernet parts and CF or SD Cards out of the box.

bill

[Luciano]

I have a copy of MikroBasic, but find it frustrating that it does
not have equivalents to SerIn2 command with time-outs if there is no data. So for
any serial you need to write an interrupt routine otherwise the serial receive is
a blocking command...

Hi Bill,

I have never used the MikroBasic compiler but after a quick
look at the PDF manual I have a solution for your software UART
timeout problem.

Best regards,

Luciano


From page 257 of MikroBasic for Pic.
(This is the original sample code).

' Here's a loop which holds until data is received:

error = 1

do
  data = Soft_Uart_Read(error)
loop until error = 0

Here is a version with timeout using BREAK to exit the Do loop:

' Here's a loop which holds until data is received
' or the timeout value has reached 10000. 

Dim MyTimeOutCounter as longint
Dim MyError as byte
Dim MyData as byte
....
....

MyError = 1
MyTimeOutCounter = 0

Do

  MyData = Soft_Uart_Read(MyError)
  
  MyTimeOutCounter = MyTimeOutCounter + 1 ' increment our timeout counter
  
  If MyTimeOutCounter = 10000 Then ' you will have to adjust this value
     Break  'Exit the Do Loop
  End if

Loop until MyError = 0

If MyError = 0 Then ' Optional IF 
  ' Serial transfer was successful
Else
  ' Timeout occured
Endif

[dhouston]

I have a copy of MikroBasic, but find it frustrating that it does not have equivalents to SerIn2 command with time-outs if there is no data. So for any serial you need to write an interrupt routine otherwise the serial receive is a blocking command...

But writing an interrupt routine is a piece of cake and examples are easy to find - I think they are even included.