Analog Devices SHARC Processors 82-003536-01 User Manual
Page 38
Evaluation Tools
2-8
Getting Started With SHARC Processors
the majority of its time is quickly assembled. This tool can be used to eas-
ily inspect an application for unexpected hotspots (for example, suggesting
the need to move a key routine from external to internal memory). Simu-
lator targets provide a completely linear profiling view.
Going even further, the VisualDSP++ compiler is able to act upon profil-
ing information. Profile-guided optimization (PGO) is a technique that
allows the compiler to instrument an application, run the application, and
then make a second pass compilation, exploiting the information that was
gathered during the previous run of the application. This gives the com-
piler unique insight on a block-by-block basis, allowing it to optimize
with a level of granularity that is not possible with a tool that operates
only on a file-by-file basis.
Integrate Into Your Existing Environment
A development tool suite is always a part of an organization’s larger soft-
ware engineering environment. VisualDSP++ has been designed to operate
in a larger environment.
Since an embedded systems engineer is often developing on a new plat-
form while maintaining existing products that were likely developed with
an earlier version of the tools, VisualDSP++ can be installed discretely an
arbitrary number of times at a variety of release levels, allowing engineer-
ing to easily switch between current and legacy versions of VisualDSP++.
To better integrate to source code control (SCC) systems, VisualDSP++ is
able to connect to any SCC provider that supports the Microsoft® com-
mon source code control (MCSCC) interface. This interface is supported
by all leading SCC vendors. VisualDSP++ goes one step further by sup-
porting the control of VisualDSP++ itself within a source code control
system.
The ability to robustly test an embedded application is enabled through a
comprehensive automation application programming interface (API).
Using language-neutral automation technology from Microsoft®, nearly