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WHICH EMBEDDED IDE IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

by Geoff Revill

Start ý What is an IDE? ý What You Can Expect ý Questions to Ask ý Four Routes to Buying ý Wrap Up ý Sources and PDF

The embedded marketplace, which embraces many different devices from simple thermostats to high-end avionics systems, is changing rapidly. Several new consumer electronics devices are entering the market, like sophisticated paging devices, hand-held computers, and Internet appliances, to name only a few. This explosion poses many new challenges for embedded designers. Hardware designs are more complex, with millions of gates, and as a result the software is getting larger and more complex. New ultra-fast microprocessors have created an insatiable appetite among consumers for fast, powerful products that support multiple applications. Intense time-to-market pressure leaves little room for error in the manufacturing process. And, unlike PC applications, embedded applications simply cannot fail because if they did, they could risk a medical mishap or worse.

More than ever, embedded development engineers must take advantage of tools to speed development cycles and ensure a high degree of quality. Today, many use a patchwork of tools (proprietary and commercial and hardware- and software-based), some of which may be delivered as an integrated development environment (IDE), loosely defined as an integrated set of development tools. The list of stand-alone tools that are available is massive, ranging from compiler, assembler, and debugger tools to sophisticated simulation and modeling tools. And confusion abounds about IDEs in the embedded market, with no two commercially available IDEs providing equivalent or comparable functionality.

If youýre left pondering the plethora of choices, youýre not alone. In "Embedded Software Tools Landscape in 2000," analyst firm Gartner Dataquest listed approximately 25 software system-level tool vendors, 27 DSP development tool vendors, 50 vendors offering RTOS libraries, 34 compiler vendors, five simulator vendors, eight vendors selling miscellaneous libraries, 50 vendors selling debuggers, 14 IDE vendors, and 22 vendors selling in-circuit emulators. [1] And this doesnýt even include hardware tools.

Developers can increase the functionality of their core solutions and save precious development time with an IDE, which eliminates the need to integrate tools from a variety of vendors. This article will clarify the different kinds of IDEs on the market and offer useful information that will help developers select an IDE that will best meet their individual requirements. This knowledge is based on an understanding of the history of the embedded IDE market, the embedded software development process, and the different values each vendor brings to the table.

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