ARM development tools

The structure of the ARM cross-development toolkit

 The details of ARM development tools
• ARM C compiler is compiles the C source code and library of standard functions. It uses
the ARM Procedure Call Standard all externally available functions. It can be told to
produce assembly source output instead of ARM object format to inspect, or even hand
optimized, and then assembled subsequently. The compiler can also use for Thumb code.
• The ARM assembler is a full macro assembler which produces ARM object format output
that can be linked with output from the C compiler.
• The linker takes one or more object files and combines them into an executable program.
It resolves symbolic references between the object files and extracts object modules from
libraries as needed by the program.
• The ARM symbolic debugger is a front-end interface to assist in debugging programs
running either under emulation (on the ARMulator) or remotely on a target system such
as the ARM development board.
• The ARM Development Board is a circuit board incorporating a range of components and
interfaces to support the development of ARM-based systems. It includes an ARM core
along with memory components which can be configured to match the performance and
electrically programmable devices which can be configured to emulate application-
specific peripherals. It can support both hardware and software development before the
final application-specific hardware is available.
 Software in high level language
Using high level language like C,C++.
Layer for software are shown in fig.

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 Process of converting a C program into the ROM image file

1. A compiler generates the object codes. The compiler assembles the codes
according to the processor instruction set and other specifications. The ‘C’
compiler for embedded systems must, as a final step of compilation, use a
code-optimizer. It optimizes the codes before
2. In the next step, called linking , a linker links these codes with the other
required assembled codes. Linking is necessary because of the number of
codes to be linked for the final binary file.
3. The final step of the system design process is locating the codes as a ROM
image and permanently placing them at the actually available addresses in the
ROM/flash. In embedded systems, there is no separate program to keep track
of the available addresses at different times during the running, as in a
computer. The designer has to define the available addresses to load and
create files for permanently locating the codes. A program called locator
reallocates the linked file and creates a file for permanent location of codes in
a standard format. This format may be Intel Hex file format or Motorola S-
record format.
4. Lastly, a laboratory system, called device programmer, takes as input the ROM
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image file and finally burns the image into the PROM or EPROM