User`s guide

DSP/BIOS Components
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1.2.3 The DSP/BIOS Analysis Tools
The DSP/BIOS Analysis Tools complement the Code Composer Studio
environment by enabling real-time program analysis of a DSP/BIOS
application. You can visually monitor a DSP application as it runs with minimal
impact on the application’s real-time performance. The DSP/BIOS Analysis
Tools are found on their own menu, as shown in Figure 1-3.
Figure 1-3. The DSP/BIOS Menu
Unlike traditional debugging, which is external to the executing program,
program analysis requires the target program contain real-time instrumentation
services. By using DSP/BIOS APIs and objects, developers automatically
instrument the target for capturing and uploading real-time information to the
host through the Code Composer Studio DSP/BIOS Analysis Tools.
Several broad real-time program analysis capabilities are provided:
❏ Program tracing. Displaying events written to target logs, reflecting
dynamic control flow during program execution
❏ Performance monitoring. Tracking summary statistics that reflect use
of target resources, such as processor load and timing
❏ File streaming. Binding target-resident I/O objects to host files
When used in tandem with the other debugging capabilities of Code
Composer Studio, the DSP/BIOS real-time Analysis Tools provide critical
views into target program behavior during program execution—where
traditional debugging techniques that stop the target offer little insight. Even
after the debugger halts the program, information already captured by the
host with the DSP/BIOS Analysis Tools can provide insight into the sequence
of events that led up to the current point of execution
Later in the software development cycle, when regular debugging techniques
become ineffective for attacking problems arising from time-dependent
interactions, the DSP/BIOS Analysis Tools have an expanded role as the
software counterpart of the hardware logic analyzer.