Chapter 2 Program Development Flow
Program Development Flow 15
2.2 Program Development Flow

Main development flow

The microcomputers are used in such diverse applications as AV equipment, household electronics,
information equipment, automobiles, robots, portable phones, computer peripherals, etc. Programs
developed with the Cross-Assembler are ultimately incorporated into these products.
The software is developed using a source code debugger running the software on a target board which
differs from the operating environment for the final application.

Assembler and compiler

Both the assembler and C compiler can be used to develop programs for the microcomputers.
Compared to assembly language, C language is a more productive language. Programs coded using a
high-level language also offer superior ability for documentation.
On the other hand, microcomputer operations can be directly coded by programming with assembly
language. Compared to high-level languages, programs can be created with more compact code size,
less redundancy, and faster processing.
Given the features of both languages, the main body of a program can be coded using C language,
while parts that require fast processing can be coded using assembly language.
When developing a program, the programmer must first consider which language to use, program
structure, processing speed required to meet the target performance of the end product, ROM size of
the device, and several other related factors.