IAR Systems Adds New Functionality to Development Tool Suite for Texas Instruments MSP430

By DE Editors

IAR Systems has announced the availability of new functionality in IAR Embedded Workbench for Texas Instruments’ microprocessor family MSP430. The new version adds several new features, among which are position-independent code and read-only data (ROPI), and multithread support.

When using the added functionality of position-independent code and read-only data (ROPI) the compiler will generate code that uses PC-relative references for addressing code and read-only data. Even though the linker places the code and read-only data at fixed locations, the application will still be executed correctly when the image is placed at a different address. ROPI replaces the previous PIC implementation in IAR Embedded Workbench for MSP430.

The addition of support for multithreading in the runtime library allows for multiple threads to exist in the same process and be executed in parallel. For many applications, thread-safety can be a critical factor. To achieve a thread-safe, multithreaded environment, all shared objects including the standard library objects must be treated according to whether they are global or local to a thread.

To be able to protect the data from being overwritten by other threads, the runtime library in IAR Embedded Workbench for MSP430 now provides an interface that makes it possible for RTOS vendors, as well as other scheduling applications, to implement locking mechanisms and thereby achieve a truly thread-safe environment.

The new version of IAR Embedded Workbench for MSP430 also adds support for the newly released version 3 of the MSP debug stack msp430.dll.

For more information, visit IAR Systems and Texas Instruments.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.