Software streamlines design process

A Texas Instruments (April 2006-) product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team May 2, 2008

CCEssentials streamlines the design process with a more intuitive interface combined with C code density and powerful debugging capabilities.

Texas Instruments has released Code Composer Essentials (CCEssentials) V3.

CCEssentials V3 for MSP430 provides upgrades designed to enhance performance, emulation and ease of use.

Using the design flexibility and interoperability enabled by the Eclipse open source platform, designers can easily integrate plug-ins for a highly customised, interoperable and flexible IDE.

CCEssentials streamlines the design process with a more intuitive interface combined with C code density and powerful debugging capabilities.

Upgrades are focussed on improving design flow, simplifying debugging and verification and speeding time to market while keeping system costs low.

Streamlined options dialog boxes reduce the number of steps required for commonly performed design tasks.

Developers have consolidated access to other MSP430 compilers tools such as the MSPGCC GNU tool chain through a single IDE.

The software provides comprehensive support of the MSP430 MCU's on-chip capabilities, including nonintrusive code execution with real-time hardware capabilities, including breakpoints and stack trace, resulting in faster emulation and more efficient debugging in all lower modes.

Complex triggers on bus values and control over clocks on a peripheral basis enhance control over the device.

Replacing the GDB debugger with the TI CCStudio Debug Server yields up to 200% faster performance for tasks such as downloading applications, single-stepping and refreshing registers and variables.

An updated C-code syntax allows developers to directly import code without modification from libraries and demos.

Support for all MSP430 MCU generations allows developers to use the best device for their needs, including the extended memory (up to 1Mbyte Flash) capabilities of MSP430X architectures such as the MSP430F261x.

CCEssentials brings all the MSP430 development tools under a single IDE to give developers the option of 'one-stop shopping' for added efficiency to help get designs up and running in minutes.