except, I do believe that the effort made for the FREE SDCC is more than any company 'financed' by $99 sales will ever be able to do.

I am an ardent proponent of Keil, it IS the best. ALL ventures into "low cost" compilers I have been exposed to have been "very exciting".

Not even "low cost" but rather "moderate cost" when I was exposed to Franklin (rebranded whatever - not Keil) it was hardly any better than the "low cost" compilers.

Using a compiler, where, for every bug, the first thing you check is "did it compile correctly" is not exactly being productive.

I emphasize that I have had no exposure to the Wickenhauser compiler, it may be excellent for all I know, just any "low cost" compiler I have seen has been a nest of fleas. I recall things like for loops that failed if the 'counter' was unsigned, chars cast as ints ending uup 256 times more ...

Then there is the issue of speed and compactness where Keil shines and I believe no "low cost" compiler will be any better than SDCC.

So, in conclusion, if you are to spend money, buy Keil, nothing else, if you can not afford Keil, go with SDCC, spending money on anything else is a waste.

highly subjetive post I know, but I stand by my opinion based on my experiences.

Erik