Processor Expert Available for HC08 HCS12 56800 MPC5500 16LX COP8

• Processor Expert is an advanced component oriented application builder for 8/16/32bit microcontroller based embedded systems
• application is created from components - Embedded Beans - encapsulating initialization and functionality of basic elements of embedded systems like CPU core, CPU on-chip peripherals, FPGA, standalone peripherals, virtual devices, and pure software algorithms and change these facilities to properties, methods and events (like objects in OOP)
• familiar environment and unified component interface for users of MS Windows rapid application design (RAD) tools.
• supports team work, user component creation, inheritance and exchange
• speeds up radically application design using
  • easy to use portable component library
  • design-time assistance of expert knowledge base for component settings
  • optimized source code generation from components settings
  • elimination of debug effort - design time verification
  • easy maintenance of user and generated sources
  • graphical interactive representation of the CPU package and structure
  • low-level peripheral initialization and control access
  • user component creation with Beans Wizard
  • concurrent support of ASM, C, EC++, VHDL, EDIF, ...
  • several debuggers with Open Source target kernels
  • cooperation with third party IDE, compilers, debuggers, emulators

Introduction to Processor Expert technology

What is Processor Expert

We developed Processor Expert to be the first integrated environment using Embedded Beans with application source code generation and hardware knowledge base. Processor Expert boosted by Embedded Beans provides both connectivity around of microprocessor (like usual E-CAD) and functionality. Processor Expert is drag&drop style and user interface targeted system for easy building of embedded applications. Conception of Embedded Beans carries out design independence on physical hardware or specific CPU derivatives.

Why Processor Expert

Designer of application usually starts with decision, which microprocessor could be used to fulfill current known requirements. His software colleague should give him feedback (after some time of course) if proposed hardware is sufficient for implementation of desired tasks. Unfortunately requirements to application functionality can vary. They depends on many agents: component cost, designers experience with the given hardware platform, user floating requirements, delivery terms, package variants and others. Application development process has usually one fixed point: deadline and the development cost.

To be more flexible in application development one should be flexible in design changes in both hardware and software side. The reason why codesign of hardware and software becomes so important is his ability to shorten application development time and provide more safety thanks to closer relationship between hardware and software entities.

Embedded software programmer cannot use in the most cases the same tools and object oriented technologies which are usual on PC - Microsoft Visual Basic, Borland Delphi and others, which are called Rapid Application Development tools. Instead, he or she must go deeply into hardware manuals to study various chip features, find out correct setups, and be able to solve various limitations using combination of hardware and software methods.

We designed Processor Expert for both hardware and software people to work together much closer and make their interface much clearer and more flexible. All work around the core of the application - microprocessor itself and its behaviour is now configuration process, which can be changed at any time. It is a process, where change in hardware is reflected in application software configuration, and where change in peripheral settings is immediately transformed to application source code. The built-in knowledge about possible hardware settings decrease learning time curve together with number of required good and wrong decisions.

We designed Processor Expert for Rapid embedded Application Development. What is typical for embedded area in comparison with PC world? It is wide spectrum of microprocessors, peripherals in use on one side and some limitations on computing power, memory spaces on the other side. The size of code on PC is usually unimportant unlike of small microcontrollers with few bytes of RAM. This facts lead to the definition of strong requirements to our technologies:

• encapsulation of the mostly used hard-wired functions to unique and portable components with clearly defined interface
• support of the autoconfiguration - assigning of the suitable hardware resources to the component during configuration process to speed up connections
• encapsulation of the mostly used software functions to portable components with ability of use of more programming languages
• such interface should look as the OOP, but it must lead to very efficient code generation to non OOP languages including assembler
• user could see configuration of his/her microprocessor in like CAD view at any time
• prepare support for the mostly used microprocessor families as a base of tool intelligence (study manuals instead of user)
• user should easily switch between different microprocessors to optimize solution of application requirements
• rapid application development via components drag&drop, configuration, code generation
• user should typically fill only "On Event" code, all other code is organised automatically
• speed up application time to market, but leave open for future modifications of HW and SW, even when hardware would change
• it means, that once created designs are portable, you can choose with Processor Expert Help the right variant or derivative of processor

Embedded Beans encapsulate functionality of basic elements of embedded systems like CPU core, CPU on-chip peripherals, standalone peripherals, virtual devices, and pure software algorithms and change these facilities to properties, methods, and events (like objects in OOP). Embedded Beans are well tested software and that is why they can save months of work of the expert programmer.

The approach to application creation is simple - describe your real or designed system with Beans (drag&drop) - configure individual Beans to suit your needs (using Beans Inspector) - if you need another microprocessor move easy design to it - set destination language or compiler - generate application code - supply your own reactions to events.

Supplied library of Embedded Beans is designed as high-level encapsulation of functions realized on silicon for the most of the nowadays microprocessors. This library is extensible and growing, could be customized for any programming language and target compiler.

The Microprocessor View shows current status of all microprocessor connections and reflects your configuration process. It contains "live" mirror of microprocessor package, gives information about each pin, connected beans - devices, CPU status. The package can be rotated, so that you can have on screen what you have on board for easy orientation.

Connection process handles potential pin sharing conflicts. Processor Expert even offers to you free hardware resources which have suitable character according to the bean needs. This leads to very fast design.

The generated code from beans is tested using special interconnection devices in connection with development boards. Code of beans is well designed and coded by hand of experienced programmers, not by the machine.

Processor Expert is result of a longtime experience with programming of safety critical applications, designing and implementing multi-target compilers and debuggers. First version of Processor Expert was implemented in 1993 and presented in 1994.

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