8051 Microcontroller Post Linker Optimizer Announced by Raisonance Compilers

8051 Microcontroller Post Linker Optimizer Announced by Raisonance Compilers

Company:	Raisonance Compilers
Category:	Development Tools
Date:	21-Nov-2000

Crolles, France November 21, 2000 - Raisonance, a manufacturer of embedded C compilers for the 8051, announced CodeCompressor™, its new optimization tool available for 8051 microcontrollers, today at Electronica. Unlike other 8051 tool chains, CodeCompressor takes a new and unique approach to optimizing applications written for 8051 microcontrollers. Acting after the linker, CodeCompressor™ optimizes the whole application, including C code, assembly, and libraries, thereby saving an extra 10% to 20% (typical) on the overall code size (these is Raisonance's estimate). Traditionally, optimizing compilers limit their action to one module, but the advantages gained in this way can become less important when linking the application code with libraries. CodeCompressor™ works on the whole program that is burned into the EPROM or Flash, and can allow your application to either use less memory or fit extra features that can add value to a design. CodeCompressor™ achieves its best performance and ease of use when used with RIDE, Raisonance’s Integrated Development Environment, but can compress third party 8051 programs as well, including binary files. In this case, a specially developed user interface enables the user to enter information that CodeCompressor couldn’t get from the Compiler/Assembler/Linker; this is vital for it to work safely and efficiently. According to Francis Lamotte, CEO of Raisonance, "Raisonance has spent the last 10 years optimizing its 8051 C compiler and tool chain. Today, it is among the best in its class but has become increasingly difficult to improve upon. A radical new approach was needed; the thought of running one or more optimization passes after the linker had been in the back of my mind for quite a long time, but it’s something that was very hard to do without a complete and detailed knowledge of the ‘overall’ toolchain, including the simulator and IDE. Today our tools have reached a level of integration and reliability that allows us to implement this new technology in a way that is both safe and easy to use." Luca Ubiali, Marketing Manager agrees, "The competition is very stiff in the 8051 marketplace: it is no longer adequate to say that our compiler was one of the best, we wanted to do something that really set us apart. With CodeCompressor™, we are going to have a definite edge over the competition." CodeCompressor™ acts in three phases that can be individually enabled and disabled by the user to have the best control over their program: The first pass consists of in lining functions that are called only once in the application, including library functions. The second pass is code factorization - CodeCompressor will look everywhere in the code for similar blocks of assembler instructions and will create a subroutine with the proper calls whenever this is safe and convenient. The Third Pass is ‘local optimization’ - the code rearranged by inlining and factorization exposes new opportunities for traditional local optimizations, such as peephole, constant folding and absolute/relative branch replacement. One of the most important problems to be solved in order to make CodeCompressor available to any programmer and with no specific knowledge of the target architecture, was to preserve the debug information. Because CodeCompressor can extensively modify the assembly code, it is important that the programmer understands that it has modified something he/she has written, and not replaced it with some form of highly optimized, but incomprehensible code. This required extending the debug information and creating a new object file format, we call it OMF51+. The user can either choose this format to work with CodeCompressor or keep the old format for compatibility issues. In the first case, the compiler and assembler have been modified to use the OMF51+ file format that provides information on Data and Code sections, instructing CodeCompressor where it can optimize the users code. Availability and Pricing CodeCompressor™ is currently in beta test and is scheduled to be available in January 2001. It will be a part of Raisonance’s high-end Enterprise Suite, starting with RkitE51. A technical article describing CodeCompressor’s features and performance is available now at www.raisonance.com. Temporary evaluation versions will be available on a per customer basis starting in December. Please send your request for an evaluation copy to sales@raisonance.com. RkitE51 is priced at Euro 2500 and is available from Raisonance and World Wide distributors or for purchase online at www.raisonance.com or www.amrai.com. About Raisonance Raisonance designs and manufactures a variety of Microprocessor Development Systems, including Compilers, Simulators, High Level Language Debuggers, Real Time Operating Systems, Integrated Development Environment, Evaluation Boards, and Real Time In-Circuit Emulators. Supported target architectures include the 8051 from all major manufacturers, XA from Philips, ST6 from STMicroelectronics, Smart Card products from Philips and specific and proprietary architectures. Founded in 1988, and located near Grenoble in the French Alps, Raisonance is committed to providing high quality products dedicated to suit the specific needs of the embedded market by introducing innovative and unique solutions. Raisonance development tools are distributed and supported worldwide. For more information, see www.raisonance.com.

Microcontrollers for Embedded Systems Designers

8051 Microcontroller Post Linker Optimizer Announced by Raisonance Compilers

Microcontrollers for
Embedded Systems
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