Chapter 3. Software Installation & Overview; An Overview Of Dynamic C - Rabbit RabbitCore RCM3000 Getting Started Manual

3. S
OFTWARE
To develop and debug programs for the RCM3000 (and for all
other Z-World and Rabbit Semiconductor hardware), you must
install and use Dynamic C. Dynamic C is an integrated develop-
ment system for writing embedded software. It runs on an IBM-
compatible PC and is designed for use with Z-World controllers
and other controllers based on the Rabbit microprocessor. Chapter 3
provides the libraries, function calls, and sample programs related
to the RCM3000.

3.1 An Overview of Dynamic C

Dynamic C has been in use worldwide since 1989. It is specially designed for program-
ming embedded systems, and features quick compile and interactive debugging in the real
environment. A complete reference guide to Dynamic C is contained in the Dynamic C
User's Manual.
You have a choice of doing your software development in the flash memory or in the data
SRAM included on the RCM3000. The advantage of working in RAM is to save wear on
the flash memory, which is limited to about 100,000 write cycles. The disadvantage is that
the code and data might not both fit in RAM.
NOTE: Do not depend on the flash memory sector size or type. Due to the volatility of
the flash memory market, the RCM3000 and Dynamic C were designed to accommo-
date flash devices with various sector sizes.
The disadvantage of using flash memory for debug is that interrupts must be disabled for
up to approximately 5 ms whenever a break point is set in the program. This can crash fast
interrupt routines that are running while you stop at a break point or single-step the pro-
gram. The flash memory and SRAM options are selected through the "BIOS Memory Set-
ting" from the
Options > Project Options > Compiler
Dynamic C provides a number of debugging features. You can single-step your program,
either in C, statement by statement, or in assembly language, instruction by instruction.
You can set break points, where the program will stop, on any statement. You can evaluate
watch expressions. A watch expression is any C expression that can be evaluated in the
context of the program. If the program is at a break point, a watch expression can view any
expression using local or global variables. If a periodic call to
your program, you will be able to evaluate watch expressions by hitting
stopping the program.
Getting Started
I
NSTALLATION
& O
VERVIEW
menu.
is included in
runwatch()
<Ctrl-U>
without
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