I have been using the IAR toolset for a number of years.  It was the
only compiler around at the time that I started to use the '430.  We
are stuck with it now as I have to support code that has been deployed
in the field.  When Crossworks came on the scene I tried to use their
toolchain but the early beta release of the compiler did not have
sufficeint optimisation to fit my code into the device.  The later
released versions, and in particular the version available now are be
more than capable.  The only reason that we did not migrate was that
their toolchain was not available until after we had to ship product
and we could not afford the time to retest the code compiled using a
different set of tools.

While evaluating Crossworks (and also Quadravox and Imagecraft) I was
given absolutely first class support.  Always a response within hours
if my request was outside the supplier's waking hours and minutes if
they were in the office.  To contrast this with IAR support, which we
pay a considerable sum for, I do not think that I have had an
acknowledgement response within 24 or even 48 hours of me submitting a
query to them.  The last real problem that I had (V3.2 FET interface
could not program the first sector of an F149 when set to leave
unmodified flash memory as it was) took a month before IAR tried to
find the problem and another week before I was given a patch.



On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 08:21:30 +0200, Ing. Morra Antonio
<antonio.morra@anto...> wrote:
> 
> 
> At 17:47 12/10/2004, Lindgren wrote:
> >As of version 2, release quite some time ago, the IDE and debugger are
> >fully integrated.
> 
> BUT one thing for sure : we do miss the separated environment of the
> earlier version!  Being able to invoke the compiler and debugger separately
> was a plus for a professional developer! At least we feel so
> regards
> A_M
> 


I too really miss the separate IDE and debugger.  In common with most
IDEs that I have come across, the IAR editor is very basic.  I had
better functionality on a shareware editor back in the days of DOS 3.2
on my original IBM-xt.  Being able to invoke the make script and
compiler chain from within my third party editor and then use the
debugger as a separate application made development far more efficient
than the dance that I have to go through now.

I have never understood why tool vendors insist on integrating their
tools so closely.  If there was a command line make/project management
utility in the tools that I could invoke from my editing environment
then I would be more than happy.

Ian

Hi Ian and Morra!


Ing. Morra Antonio <antonio.morra@anto...> wrote:

> BUT one thing for sure : we do miss the separated
environment of the
> earlier version!  Being able to invoke the compiler and debugger separately
> was a plus for a professional developer! At least we feel so
> regards

You can still invoke the debugger on a file that you have built
outside the IDE.

The "trick" is to create a new project from scratch and add the
"foo.d43" file as the only file in the project, and then press the
"debug" icon.

(Come to think of it, maybe you have to disable building the project
before debugging?)


Ian Okey <ian.okey@ian....> wrote:

> Being able to invoke the make script and compiler
chain from within
> my third party editor and then use the debugger as a separate
> application made development far more efficient than the dance that
> I have to go through now.
>
> I have never understood why tool vendors insist on integrating their
> tools so closely.  If there was a command line make/project management
> utility in the tools that I could invoke from my editing environment
> then I would be more than happy.

I guess this is your lucky day -- there is such a tool and it's
included in the product.

The command "iarbuild" can build, rebuild, or clean a project.  You
still will need the IDE to set up the project and set all options, but
once that is complete you can perform the edit-compile cycle without
ever leaving your editor.

    -- Anders Lindgren, IAR Systems
-- 
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this posting are strictly my own and
not necessarily those of my employer.