I also spent $2000 on a storage scope and much more for other tools needed for the work I was doing. When I started out as an independent consultant in 1988, I spent over $1000 for a schematic capture program and thousands more for PCB design programs. As to the cost of compilers, I think $1000 is reasonable if you are doing design work professionally. Now that PICs with much larger Flash and RAM are cheaper than a cup of coffee, I like to use C for most projects, and no need to worry about running out of space. But all my early PIC projects were in assembly. I also did a little with ForTran (around 1966) and then AFBIC (All Fortran Basic Interpretive Compiler), then Pascal, C, and finally Borland Delphi (Object Pascal) for Windows apps. I "cut my teeth" on assembly language for the 8085, Z80, and PICs, and it was a valuable learning experience to deal with the "bare metal" workings of the processor. I guess I have little sympathy for those that complain too much about what they must pay for and the shortcomings of "free" products. I admit I was disappointed when I found that I could not upgrade my XC8 above 1.33 without paying for a year of HPA for $200, but I was pleased that I could use XC8 in pro mode since I had originally purchased C18 at a MASTERS conference in 2003 or 2004, where it was half price. ![]() Interesting discussion in the other thread.
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