ARM releases Development Studio 5 for Android NDK

ARM has released DS-5, a new version of it's Development Studio suite of Eclipse-based tools. The suite is meant to aid in the development of native code for the ARM architecture, currently the most widespread processors in the mobile field, using the Android NDK, which was recently release by Google in it's seventh revision.

Along with the usual bug fixes, ARM has included new debugging based enhancements, including, "automated connection to Android targets for NDK-generated native code, Instruction trace support for Cortex-A7 processors, CADI support to permit debugger connection external simulation models and the ability to capture instruction trace for selected segments of code." However, as Ars Technica points out, now may not be the best time to heavily invest in coding hardware specific apps.

The other major changes include:

• Support for Ubuntu Desktop Edition 10.04 32-bit hosts
• ARM Compiler
  • Support for Cortex^™-A7
• Streamline
  • Support for annotations from kernel space
  • Sub-millisecond resolution for capture events, such as annotations and context switches
  • Command line interface can now export timeline data
  • Points of interest on the timeline charts can be pinned for easier result comparison
• Configuration Database:
  • Pre-configured debug support for these additional platforms:
    • ARM ARM1156T2F-S CoreTile, Versatile Express Cortex-A15x2 SMM
    • Atmel AT91SAM9G25 and AT91SAM9X35
    • Mindspeed Transcede 4000
    • NXP LPC3131, LPC3141 and LPC3152

For a list of the full changes, head over to the DS-5 change log.