Freescale’s CodeWarrior 10 tool suite, based on the Eclipse platform, eases embedded software development

The CodeWarrior integrated development environment (IDE) continues to be the essential tool for code development, debug and test when designing with Freescale’s extensive range of microcontroller (MCU) and microprocessor (MPU) solutions. Now with the introduction of CodeWarrior 10 IDE, software developers have access to the Eclipse ‘ease of use’ features as well as an integrated, extensible suite of plug-ins from Freescale, its partners and the Eclipse community for the multiple phases of software development.

CodeWarrior 10 tool suite is available in three different suites: CodeWarrior Development Studio for MCUs version 10.0 (pre-release available today, production release expected to be available July 16, 2010), CodeWarrior Development Studio for StarCore version 10.0 (available today), and CodeWarrior Development Studio for Power Architecture® Technology version 10.0 (expected to be available Q1 2011).

“Freescale understands the software needs of our customers and is committed to providing a user-friendly development platform that can take full advantage of the chosen silicon for a particular application,” said Tim Tumilty, director of Developer Tools and Technology at Freescale. “Now with Eclipse, our CodeWarrior suite of tools allows developers to customize their development environment, as well as enables tighter technology integration with our partners.”

Freescale joined the Eclipse Foundation two years ago to promote embedded initiatives as a core part of the Eclipse roadmap. Eclipse technology is an open architecture software platform that eases software development by enabling tool integration for customers and third party vendors across Freescale’s portfolio. The open source nature of the Eclipse environment already is embraced by many of Freescale's third party vendors, including Enea and Mentor Graphics, with hundreds of free and commercial plug-ins available to improve productivity and reliability and reduce software development time.

Furthermore, the Eclipse platform creates the opportunity for CodeWarrior toolset plug-ins to enable Freescale silicon development on other Eclipse-based platforms—encouraging innovation between customers, partners and third parties by using a single, compartmentalized environment for development activities.

Experience CodeWarrior Development Studio for MCUs version 10.0 today
The CodeWarrior Development Studio for MCUs version 10.0 integrates development tools for the RS08, HCS08, ColdFire and ColdFire+ architectures into a single product. With Processor Expert, a rapid application development tool with a graphical user interface, automatic code generator and built-in knowledge base, customers can generate peripheral code and low level drivers to bring up their boards quickly and error-free. Key features include:

* Processor Expert software modeling tool, the leading rapid application development tool, helps resolve problems in the hardware layer during the initial design phase
* MCU Change Wizard allows for re-targeting to an entirely new device in six clicks
* LiveView provides the ability to monitor registers, memory and global variables without stopping the processor
* Trace and profile support for on-chip trace buffers offers a sophisticated emulator-like debug capability without additional hardware
* CodeWarrior architecture-specific compilers leverage aggressive optimization options that help to eliminate the need to spend valuable time hand-tuning applications for maximum performance

A complimentary Special Edition of CodeWarrior Development Studio for MCUs, with Processor Expert software modeling tool, is available for download at www.freescale.com/cwmcu10.

“When I first used CodeWarrior 10 Development Studio, I was amazed at how quickly I found all the features I wanted to use while still adding extra functionality to the toolset,” says Chris Darrow, a field applications engineer at Arrow Electronics who beta-tested CodeWarrior Development Studio for MCUs version 10.0. “The Workbench offered the ability to modify and track all details of my project, yet kept everything organized.”