Writing firmware: assembly or high level?

Question

Related to:

• Testing firmware
• starting a microcontroller simulator/emulator
• Interpreting assembly code

If you are writing co

Answer 1

I would definitely go with C. It is faster and it creates more reliable software. Assembly has very little to offer and in scarce occasions. Have in mind that in C:

• You would be able to easily port code from existing platforms, even from PCs.
• You can develop in a high level language without compromising execution speed or code size. Provided that a quality compiler is available (there are many choices for PIC18), these would be most probably be better with C than hand crafted assembly.
• It is much easier to debug, test and maintain the code. C produces more reliable code.

Another thing that specifically has to do with PIC18. You won't have to deal with the non-intuitive PIC architecture and things like memory BANKs.