Amersfoort, Netherlands – 08 December 2015 - Altium Limited, a global leader in Smart System Design Automation, 3D PCB design (Altium Designer) and embedded software development (TASKING), has announced an update to their TASKING toolset for the Infineon and STMicroelectronics microcontroller families. v4.0r1 of the TASKING VX-toolset provides support for the popular MISRA C:2012 software development guidelines and offers a number of optimizations for embedded software development workflows. This update is available now on Windows and Linux, and those interested in trying this updated toolset can request a 30 day trial.

A Commitment to Quality for Over Two Decades

TASKING support for the popular 16-bit C16x microcontroller series goes back to 1991, when Infineon (Siemens Halbleiter) and Altium (TASKING) marked the beginning of their close partnership to support Infineon’s microcontroller, chip card and DSP solutions.

Today, Altium is Infineon’s sole partner for compiler and debugger support for their entire portfolio of microcontrollers, including market leading development toolsets for the C16x/XC2000 and TriCore/AURIX families in the automotive space. The TASKING VX-toolset for C16x microcontroller provides:

• A complete embedded software development environment including an Eclipse-based IDE, C and C++ compiler, linker, simulator, and in-circuit/ROM-monitor debugger.  

• The market’s only C16x compiler that supports efficient programming of the microcontroller's MAC unit in C language.

• Up to 20-45% less code and up to 20-25% faster code, achieving 32-bit microcontroller performance with the XC2000 and XE166 variants.

Enhanced Software Development Workflows

The new release of the VX-toolset for C16x brings many improvements and optimizations in all areas of the toolset, including:

• Faster build times through enhanced compiler build caching

• Extended C library support with added floating point functions.

• Safe and reliable coding through extended support for the latest MISRA C:2012 guidelines for C programming, in addition to the CERT C secure coding standard and the earlier MISRA C guidelines.

• Improved application reliability through various code safety relevant enhancements.

• More flexible and configurable licensing from single user to global teams through fast and reliable TASKING License Management system.

• Better infrastructure technology support through an update of the Eclipse-based IDE to the Luna generation.

The TASKING code analysis support integrated into the compiler enables developers to easily select and configure coding guidelines in order to increase code safety, reliability and maintainability. By providing support for the new MISRA C:2012 standard, developers now can benefit from the latest guidelines improvements that can reduce the cost and complexity of compliance, while aiding consistent, safe use of C in embedded systems.

Availability Details

The TASKING VX-toolset for C16x release v4.0r1 will become available within the next weeks on Windows, with Linux and 30 day trial versions available on request. Existing customers with a maintenance contract can upgrade to the new release for free.