MSP430 software development flow.
1) The shaded portion highlights the most common development path; the other portions are optional.
2) The other portions are peripheral functions that enhance the development process.
The assembler creates object modules from assembly code, and the linker creates executable object files from object modules. These executable object files can be executed by an MSP430 device.
• The C/C++ compiler accepts C/C++ source code and produces MSP430 machine code object modules. A shell program, an optimizer, and an interlist utility are included in the installation.
– The shell program enables you to compile, assemble, and link source modules in one step.
– The optimizer modifies code to improve the efficiency of C/C++ programs.
– The interlist utility interlists C/C++ source statements with assembly language output to correlate code produced by the compiler with your source code.
• The assembler translates assembly language source files into machine language object modules.
• The linker combines object files into a single executable object module. It performs symbolic relocation and resolves external references.
• The archiver allows you to collect a group of files into a single archive file, called a library.
• The library information archiver allows you to create an index library of several object file library variants.
• You can use the library-build utility to build your own customized run-time-support library.
• The hex conversion utility converts object files to TI-Tagged, ASCII-Hex, Intel, Motorola-S, or Tektronix object format.
• The absolute lister uses linked object files to create .abs files.
• The cross-reference lister uses object files to produce a cross-reference listing showing symbols, their definition, and their references.
• The main product of this development process is a executable object file that can be executed in a MSP430 device.