System-on-a-chip designs are becoming increasingly popular in the embedded systems arena. What are they and how do the resulting system design changes affect traditional software development and debugging strategies?

Most very small programs are written in assembly language because either no C compiler is available or the inefficiencies of the compiled code are unacceptable for the project. This article shows how to use the benefits of C of high-end C compiler tools to develop assembly programs for any microcontroller.