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copied!<p>Most microcontroller manufacturers provide some sort of cross-compiler where you can compile the code on your PC and then transfer it over to the microcontroller. </p> <p><strong>Why C?</strong><br> An advantage of C is that your code will be easier to port to other microcontrollers in the future. The history of computing has shown that code typically outlasts hardware implementations.<br> A second advantage is control structures (if, for, while) that make code more readable and maintainable. </p> <p><strong>Why Assembly Language?</strong><br> You can hand craft optimizations. </p> <p><strong>Verdict</strong><br> As is often the case with this sort of question, the trade-offs are very dependent on the specific use.<br> Be aware that it is often possible to mix the two by making assembly calls within C code, so you can find a balance that is right for your project.</p> <p><strong>Specific to the PIC hardware</strong><br> It <a href="http://www.voti.nl/picfaq/index_1.html#Where%20can%20I%20get%20a%20GCC%20for%20PICs?" rel="noreferrer">seems</a> that you don't have the option of GCC with most PIC hardware. On the other hand, as a commenter noted, the Microchip C30 compiler for the 16-bit PIC24 and dsPIC33 is gcc.<br> PIC is also not yet supported by <a href="http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/" rel="noreferrer">SDCC</a>.<br> <strong><em>New Info: according to a comment, SDCC has workable support for PIC.</em></strong><br> There are some other open source <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIC_microcontroller#Open_Source" rel="noreferrer">options</a>, but I don't have experience with them. </p>

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