2.2 Compiler Description and Documentation

The MPLAB XC16 C compiler is a full-featured, optimizing compiler that translates standard ANSI C programs into 16-bit device assembly language source. The compiler also supports many command-line options and language extensions that allow full access to the 16-bit device hardware capabilities and affords fine control of the compiler code generator.

The compiler is a port of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) compiler from the Free Software Foundation.

The compiler is available for several popular operating systems, including 32 and 64-bit Windows^® OS, Linux^® OS and Mac^® OS X^®.

The compiler can be licensed as Free or PRO. The Free license has the minimum optimizations whereas the PRO license has the maximum (for details see Optimizations).The basic compiler operation, supported devices and available memory are identical across all modes.

This key features of the compiler are discussed in the following sections.