> I'm doing an embedded systems college project this year. I making a
> portable device that will take input in the form of simple switches,
> and give output in the form of LED's. I haven't yet decided whether
> I'll use C or C++, but could someone please suggest to me a
> microcontroller and compiler combination that might be useful?
>
> Martin

Try Atmel AVR or 8051 - both have free c compilers. GCC is available for
AVR. Also there are quite cheap devel boards for AVR available.