The development of a microcontroller-based system is a complex process. Development tools are hardware and software tools designed to help programmers develop and test systems in a relatively short time. There are many such tools, and a discussion of all of them is beyond the scope of this book. This chapter offers a brief review of the most common tools.

The tools for developing software and hardware for microcontroller-based systems include editors, assemblers, compilers, debuggers, simulators, emulators, and device programmers. A typical development cycle starts with writing the application program using a text editor. The program is then translated into an executable code with the help of an assembler or compiler. If the program has several modules, a linker is used to combine them into a single application. Any syntax errors are detected by the assembler or compiler and must be corrected before the executable code can be generated. Next, a simulator is used to test the application program without the target hardware. Simulators are helpful in checking the correctness of an algorithm or a program with limited or no input-outputs, and most errors can be removed during simulation. Once the program seems to be working and the programmer is happy with it, the executable code is loaded to the target microcontroller chip using a device programmer, and the system logic is tested. Software and hardware tools such as in-circuit debuggers and in-circuit emulators can analyze the program's operation and display the variables and registers in real time with the...