B4R vs MPLAB X IDE

B4R is a free Windows development tool for creating native programs for Arduino-compatible boards, ESP8266, and ESP32. Its plan costs nothing and permits commercial use. The product page lists a modern IDE, connectivity options, and an Arduino–Android Bluetooth Low Energy example. Integrated flashing is available, but integrated debugging is not. Setup requires Arduino IDE v2, Arduino CLI, and Java; OpenJDK 14 is listed when Java is not already installed. Users configure paths to arduino-cli.exe and javac, then choose a board type and serial port in the Board Selector. C source code and generated compiled objects appear in the Objects folder. B4R libraries are open source under the MIT license. The product page links learning resources, example projects, tutorials, and a forum. Anywhere Software directs technical questions to its forum and says email inquiries receive answers within 24 hours. The maker identifies Erel Uziel as founder and CEO and says it has specialized in mobile development since 2005.

MPLAB X IDE is a free desktop environment for discovering, configuring, developing, debugging, and qualifying embedded designs for most Microchip microcontrollers and digital signal controllers. It runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS, supporting 64-bit Intel or AMD computers and Arm-based Apple silicon. During debugging, I/O View can display and manipulate target registers. A single action can build a project, connect to a hardware tool, program the target, and begin debugging or execution. Data Visualizer displays real-time streaming data, and MPLAB Integrated Programming Environment supports production-level programming. The IDE supports open-source AVR and SAM MCU GCC and can work with MPLAB XC compilers. Projects and tools such as Code Configurator and Data Visualizer are also supported in Microsoft Visual Studio Code. Source control configuration options and a plug-in manager, including support for NetBeans plugins, extend the environment. The listed 6.35 release supports Windows, Linux, and macOS. Version 6.20 was the last release supporting PICkit 3, MPLAB ICD 3, and MPLAB REAL ICE. Supported targets include PIC, dsPIC, AVR, SAM, PIC32, and other Microchip MCU, DSC, and MPU families.