Microchip migrates MPLAB to Linux and Mac OS with NetBeans IDE

Microchip has migrated its MPLAB integrated development environment (IDE) onto the open-source Java-based 'NetBeans IDE', allowing it to run on Linux and Mac OS as well as Windows.

"For the first time we have cross-platform support across Windows, Linux and Mac OS," Microchip applications engineer Darren Wenn told Electronics Weekly. "NetBeans IDE is very strong in user plug-ins. We have wanted to offer plug-ins with previous versions of MPLAB but the architecture is very difficult for that. Customers can now, for example, write debugging tools, and the NetBeans community has many plug-ins we can take advantage of like graphing tools and vi and html editors."

There will be support for almost all existing Microchip hardware for all three operating systems from the start.

"Customer investment in hardware tools is all preserved, with a couple of exceptions that will be cleared up," said Wenn. "Certainly ICD 3, PICkit 3, REAL ICE and all of the primary development tools are supported."

The new tool is called MPLAB X and it will cover all of the firm's 8, 16 and 32bit microcontrollers, including over 800 PICs, dsPICs and memory devices. 

While there has been an attempt to keep it looking familiar to those used to MPLAB version 8, it will be all NetBeans under the bonnet.

"Using NetBeans has allowed us to take advantage its facilities, which are well tested and well used," said Wenn. "My favourite example is <control>click that will take you to the source, so you can click on an include line and it will take you to the include source, and the same with a type, and the same with a variable."

Code is checked as you type.

"The most powerful feature is the code pre-parser that continually analyses your code as you type, identifying code errors before you hit the compile button," said Wenn.

C++ is "properly", said Wenn, supported for the first time and multiple linked PIC processors can be debugged at the same time, for example "a PIC32 and five or six 8bit parts can be run simultaneously with a break-point in one project firing another one in a different project. All could be compiled simultaneously and debugged simultaneously on multiple hardware development tools".

Everyone else is using Eclipse. Why not Microchip?

"When we were looking for a new IDE, we did evaluate Eclipse and we found the code was bloated and not very efficient, although in certain applications it was very good," said Wenn. "We are working very closely with Oracle [which sponsors NetBeans], we are currently their only embedded partner."

And Java means slower?

Only slightly.

"We have seen some degradation, in the order of a few %. It is 5% slower on a correctly configured system" he admitted. "For example, a TCP/IP stack compiles in 45s in MPLAB v8 on my PC, and 47s with MPLAB X."

That said, "it compiles in 34s on Ubuntu 10.10 on a standard PC with VMware", he said

Additional features include: an import utility for migration of projects from the previous MPLAB IDEs, code completion and context menus via the editor, a configurable watch window, and team collaboration tools for bug tracking and source code control.