The release of IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM version 5.50 goes well beyond the usual incremental improvements and new device support. Certainly there is all that with CP15 register display, Trace information display enhancements, new optimizations for C floating point libraries, support for new Secure Card architecture and Cortex M4. But the really big new is what IAR is doing to give developers further insight into what is often the most critical part of many applications – power consumption.

For the first time in development tools history, developers can directly see within an IDE power consumption measurements along side the display of code execution. This capability is unprecedented and demonstrates a real commitment on the part of IAR to giving developers crucially important views into applications where it is needed the most. Using these data, developers can focus on the code in parts of applications that draw the most current. Only a few percent reduction in power usage can mean months or years of extra battery life of a field deployed product.

You can see a short, informative clip on power debugging at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrMpD3ttgCE

What more could a developer ask for? How about the ability to generate position independent code? This is another very nice feature that modern developers can use to cope with the demands of increasingly complex applications.

All in all EWARM 5.50 is not just a tweaked versions of an already great product. It raises the bar significantly with tools that should be part of every developer’s repertoire.