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I upgraded my CA51 to 7.00. My initial results on my code for my 5K part are: Keil 6.23 CA51 => 4F9B code size Keil 7.00 CA51 => 5035 code size I like to keep current with my tools. Is there an option I can set on the 7.00 CA51 compiler so I can get the 6.23 performance?
I have used the 7.0 compiler on a large number of projects (about 30) and have found that the sizes are very much the same as 6.23 when not using the new linker. When I use the new linker, the size decreases by a very noticable amount. My projects range from 2-3K code to 60K. Sure it would be nice if every version decreased in size from the previous ... but sometimes bug fixes take code. If we all looked in depth, I'm sure that we could all find our pet peeves in the code that the compiler generates. But I for one am a happy camper in that I haven't had a significant compiler induced error since version 4. (At least none that weren't reported and fixed VERY quickly).
Bob, Since the new linker is not included in the CA51 program, I have to go by the raw program size of the compiler and old linker. By "very much the same", are saying that the programs compiled always sightly larger, or that they compiled both slighty larger and smaller? So far all my programs compiled larger. Since I am deciding whether to stay 6.23 or go to 7.00, I find your input very helpful.
I find both increases and decreases. I think the largest swing is about 15 bytes either way. Since my programs always seem to be time critical, I usually make an effort to review the output and "help" the compiler generate better code. As a result, the normal changes from version to version are Push/Pop and register optimization differences. In my prior response I referred to Version 4 of the compiler ... I meant to say that my problems have virtually gone away since Keil disolved their relationship with Franklin. Things like concerned support staff and this forum have gone a LONG way to making the product a very stable production tool.