IAR Systems has updated its IAR Embedded Workbench embedded development tools for Renesas RL78.
The update adds analysis functionality to the development tools, support for the static analysis tool C-STAT, as well as stack usage analysis.
The version includes major new functionality enabling simplified development and increased code quality control for applications based on Renesas low-power RL78 microcontrollers.
C-STAT features innovative static analysis that can detect defects, bugs, and security vulnerabilities as defined by CERT C/C++ and the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE), as well as help keeping code compliant to coding standards like MISRA C:2004, MISRA C++:2008 and MISRA C:2012.
Static analysis enables developers to already at an early stage identify errors such as memory leaks, access violations, arithmetic errors, and array and string overruns. This makes it a lot easier for developers to ensure code quality. It also minimises the impact of errors on the finished product and on the project timeline.
In addition, version 2.20 of IAR Embedded Workbench for RL78 introduces stack usage analysis.
As the stack is a fundamental property of an embedded application, setting it up properly is essential for ensuring the application’s stability and reliability. The task of calculating the stack space is, however, notoriously hard for all but the smallest of systems.
This challenging task can be greatly simplified by having access to information about the worst case maximum stack depth of the application. Enabling stack usage analysis in IAR Embedded Workbench provides just that, adding listings of the maximum stack depth for each call graph root to the linker map file. The analysis process can be customized to take into account such constructs as calls via function pointers and recursion.
IAR Embedded Workbench for RL78 features code optimisations that create compact, fast-performing code. In order to achieve even higher execution speed, the 64-bit double-precision floating-point routines have been rewritten for the latest release.
Now included with the toolchain is Renesas AP4 for RL78. This standalone tool (formerly named Applilet) can be used to automatically generate control programs for peripheral modules in accordance with user-defined settings. Renesas AP4 for RL78 fully supports code generation for IAR Embedded Workbench for RL78, and the generated modules are incorporated via the IAR Project Connection mechanism.