The Code Composer Studio™
integrated development environment
(IDE) supports Texas Instruments broad
embedded portfolio.
Getting Started
The rst screen seen when running
Code Composer Studio is the “Getting
Started” view. This tool provides
users with fast access to many of
the common tasks they would want
to perform when rst starting to use
a new environment such as creating
a new project, browsing examples
and visiting the new “App Center.”
There are links to the support forums,
YouTube videos, training materials and
the wiki. Prominently displayed in the
center of the screen is a video that
walks customers through the basics of
using Code Composer Studio. It also
gives users the option of switching to
“Simple Mode.” Simple mode strips
down the Code Composer Studio
user interface to a more basic set of
functionality with a reduced number of
buttons, menu items and views open.
App Center
Users need much more than just an
IDE to begin working on an embedded
design. The purpose of the “App Cen-
ter” is to provide access to additional
software that is available. Packages
such as MSP430Ware™, C2000™
controlSUITE™ and TivaWare™ are
essential to starting development and
are all available via the App Center.
Other packages like TI-RTOS, GCC for
MSP430™, Linux™ Development Tools
and GUI Composer are also available.
To prevent customers from being over-
whelmed by content, the App Center
will display only the packages that are
relevant to the device platforms that
were selected during the Code Com-
poser Studio installation.
Once users have installed a package,
the “Resource Explorer” lets them
browse through all the examples and
documentation that were provided.
The idea is that users can quickly
locate the content they need, install
it and start using it, all from within
Code Composer Studio.
Compiler and Advisor Tools
At the heart of every development
environment is the compiler. Code
Composer Studio includes a highly
optimized C compiler for each
processor platform. Additionally, for
MSP430- and ARM®-based devices,
a GCC distribution is provided for
those who prefer to use GCC. In order
to help the compiler to do the best
job possible for your device, Code
Composer Studio includes intelligent
tools that provide you with advice on
how to best optimize your application
for performance, code size and power
consumption.
Trace
Many high-performance TI processors
include the ability to perform processor
trace. Trace provides a detailed,
historical account of code execution,
timing and data accesses. This
advanced capability is extremely useful
in detecting complex, intermittent bugs,
as well as proling to help ne-tune
code performance. Trace data can be
captured to dedicated on-chip memory
(ETB) or exported over pins to be
captured by a trace receiver.
The majority of TI devices with an
ARM Cortex®-M core include the
“Instrumentation Trace Module” (ITM).
ITM is an application-driven trace
source that provides a high-level
software view of what is happening on
the device. ITM enables features such
as: Statistical proling, variable tracing
and interrupt proling.
Code Composer Studio™ v6
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Embedded Processors