Embedded Systems Software
The PERC virtual machine with native methods to support Sun's JDK 1.0.2 lang, net, util, and io libraries starts at $120,000 and the Rhapsody object-oriented analysis, design, and implementation tool for embedded systems software is introduced.
Abstract
N ewMonics Inc. announced its PERC Java virtual machine for embedded systems. The company has explicitly defined the virtual machine's real-time behavior so that users can develop real-time programs that execute within real-time constraints. The PERC real-time extensions enable application code to query the local execution environment to determine the application's resource requirements and request that the system executive dedicate CPU time and memory resources to particular applications. Once the system executive grants a resource budget to a particular real-time activity, it enforces the budget to make sure that tasks do not interfere with one another in unpredictable ways. The package also features real-time garbage collection. In typical Java applications , objects are allocated and reclaimed in arbitrary order. After a while, in-use objects are typically scattered throughout memory, and segments of free memory found between in-use objects are likely to be quite small. PERC's garbage collector incrementally defragments memory by copying in-use objects to contiguous memory locations so as to free larger segments. It does this under strict real-time constraints, enabling high-priority application tasks to preempt the garbage collector and offering throughput guarantees for the rate at which each real-time activity's memory can be reclaimed and reallocated. The PERC virtual machine with native methods to support Sun's JDK 1.0.2 lang, net, util, and io libraries starts at $120,000. EMBEDDED OOAD I-Logix introduced its Rhapsody object-oriented analysis, design, and implementation tool for embedded systems software. Based on the Unified Modeling Language, the tool produces full production code from graphic designs and visually animates execution behavior. The toolset consists of Designer, Code Generator , Animator, and Browser modules. The designer tool is a graphical implementation of UML that lets developers unambiguously describe all aspects of the desired structure, behavior, and interaction of a system, according to the company. Diagrams can incorporate composite objects, concurrency, inherited Statecharts, and other embedded constructs. The code generator produces full, optimized C++ code from object models, says the company. Standard language compilers are seamlessly integrated to provide a unified implementation environment. The animator tool uses an exe-cutable version of the generated code to visually highlight the actual operation of the software within the design diagrams. This lets developers debug and verify software at the graphic design level rather than the compiler level. E ntrust Technologies introduced Entrust/ICE (Integrated Cryptographic Engine) encryption software for Windows 95/NT. The software automatically and transparently encrypts files, with users being able …