TASKING's DSP56xxx Tool Suite Delivers Superior Compiler and Debug Functionality for Complex Embedded Communications

Sophisticated breakpoint capabilities ease debugging, minimizing time to market

Dedham, MA, March 12, 2001 — TASKING, The Embedded Communications Company, announced the immediate availability of the TASKING DSP56xxx Tool Suite V3.0, featuring advanced debugging capabilities and a new integrated development environment. The Tool Suite delivers the increased functionality and efficiency needed to meet the rigorous time-to-market demands of the embedded communications sector.

With the increased complexity of embedded communications, the debugging phase of application design is commandeering more and more time, challenging product deadlines. Recognizing the advantage of getting product to market first, TASKING specifically improved one of the most fundamental debugging tools-breakpoint handling-to quickly identify application errors. Developers can now set breakpoints based on code execution, data access, timer activity, instruction and cycle counts or any combination of settings. Using probe points, I/O simulation can be traced without halting code execution or interfering with source-level commands. Through a breakpoint sequencer, breakpoints can be set based on a series of events, enabling developers to eliminate inconsequential breakpoints and focus on more problematic complex events. This added control gives developers the ability to efficiently drill down to the source of the problems with minimal loss of time.

"In this embedded communications age, the ability to harness DSP technology has become one of the best ways to distinguish communications devices," said Laura Horn, TASKING's DSP/32-bit Product Marketing Manager. "To give our customers a competitive edge, TASKING has focused on speeding debug, maximizing ease-of-use features and optimizing compiler efficiency to accelerate time to market. With this release, TASKING gives developers the foundation they need to gain the edge in today's embedded communications sector-the ability to produce smaller, tighter code that executes more quickly in a minimum amount of time."

Using optimized compiler technology, TASKING fine tunes loops, exploits parallel execution and checks stack and register use to generate code that is on average 40% smaller and faster than GNU code. By automatically checking stack overflow, the Tool Suite offers the developer the option of safely shutting down the application, quickly identifying the error while maintaining programmer control. To further improve code density, the compiler tracks the use of each register in the program flow, removing redundant loads and stores. Developers wishing to take advantage of TASKING's superior functionality enjoy support of COFF files and the GNU calling convention and, by using a special keyword (_compatible), developers gain compiler interoperability with the Motorola CLAS tool set. With these enhancements, embedded communications developers achieve the superior performance and functionality needed to design complex wireless, networking and handheld applications.

TASKING's new EDE technology completely integrates the Tool Suite's optimized C and C++/EC++ compilers, CrossView Pro debugger and on-chip debug support into the Embedded Development Environment. Using an enhanced graphical interface throughout, TASKING improves developer productivity through ease-of-use features and a better overview of the application code. With graphical browsing, developers can immediately overview the application's cross references as well as easily navigate through application variables and functions. Advanced coding assistance displays function parameters as you type, and code templates easily insert frequently occurring lines of code, greatly improving developer efficiency. With these enhancements integrated throughout the entire embedded development environment, TASKING extends the DSP56xxx Tool Suite's superior solution, easing the development process and promoting faster time-to-market.

Availability:

The TASKING DSP56xxx Tool Suite, V3.0, is available now on Windows 95/98/NT, SUN Solaris, SUN O/S and HP/UX. TASKING DSP56xxx customers with an active maintenance contract may upgrade to this release free of charge. A demo version of the Tool Suite is available from www.tasking.com/products/DSP56xxx or on CD-ROM from any of the TASKING offices or distributors. Release notes and manual files can be downloaded from the technical support area at www.tasking.com/support/DSP56xxx.

About TASKING

TASKING, The Embedded Communications Company, brings together the software technology needed to compete in the embedded communications era. TASKING's award-winning integrated development environment, compiler, debugger, embedded Internet and RTOS offerings support a wide range of DSPs and 8-, 16- and 32-bit microprocessors and microcontrollers for all areas of embedded communications. TASKING, founded in 1974, is a privately held company with headquarters in Dedham, Massachusetts, and engineering, sales and support offices in California, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK. TASKING's 100,000 licensed users include the world's leading telecom, datacom, wireless and peripheral manufacturers. More information about TASKING can be found at www.tasking.com and www.embeddedcommunications.com.

TASKING, the TASKING logo, and The Embedded Communications Company are trademarks of TASKING. All other trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.