Comparing 16F88 compilers

Chosing the right compiler to use in the future can be a lot of work sometimes, especially for those who like to take time in this decisions.

Ive written a small code that flashes 4 LEDs sequencially using a PIC16F88 internal 4MHZ crystal, it jumps from LED to LED with half a second interval.Its simple and short.
With this I can compare both, code size and the final compiled file .hex for the PIC size, and take some conclusions.

This is the basic code in C :

while(1) { 
	PORTA = 0b00001000;  
	Delay_ms(500); 
	PORTA = 0b00000100; 
	Delay_ms(500); 
	PORTA = 0b00000010; 
	Delay_ms(500); 
	PORTA = 0b00000001; 
	Delay_ms(500); 
	}

The following picture shows the connections on a breadboard :

I tested 5 compilers, 3 C compilers, one assembly compiler from the manufacturer and a very sucessfull open source compiler JAL with its own syntax.

Source files are complete with right fuses and configurations for that compiler.

Here goes a video of the LED sequence :

Created on 11-04-2013