[comp.dsp] Is there a compiler for TMS320C25 somewhere?

tommyp@isy.liu.se (Tommy Pedersen) (09/04/90)

Dear newsgroup,

  Does anyone know of a compiler for Texas Signal Processor TMS320C25?
Preferably to compile C code, but any high level language will do.
(I heard Texas had such a  compiler but it was virtually useless
 becuase it generated such slow code????)

Please send response to me by e-mail, and I will post a summary if there
is enough interest.

/Tommy Pedersen

E-mail: tommyp@isy.liu.se
S-mail: Tommy Pedersen
	Dept. of EE
        Linkoping University
        S-581 83 Linkoping
[People I know in the DSP biz tell me that although there are many C
compilers for DSP chips, nobody uses them because they're all too slow.
-John]
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leech@homer.cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech) (09/06/90)

In article <1990Sep4.092517.13387@isy.liu.se> tommyp@isy.liu.se (Tommy Pedersen) writes:
>[People I know in the DSP biz tell me that although there are many C
>compilers for DSP chips, nobody uses them because they're all too slow.
>-John]

    Well, maybe nobody doing DSP code uses them.  The AT&T Pixel
Machine, a graphics engine based on multiple DSP32s, is coded in C
mixed hand-rolled assembler.
--
    Jon Leech (leech@cs.unc.edu)
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mhorne@ka7axd.wv.tek.com (Mike Horne) (09/06/90)

In a recent article by tommyp@isy.liu.se (Tommy Pedersen):
> 
> [People I know in the DSP biz tell me that although there are many C
> compilers for DSP chips, nobody uses them because they're all too slow.
> -John]

I'm assuming you mean poor code generation (i.e. slow code)...

Generally speaking, few people use compilers to generate code for DSP chips
for *time critical* code sections.  Note that this includes just about all
signal processing algorithms.  However, you can use a high-level language
(such as C) to build the *structure* of the program and use in-line assembly
for time critical sections.  I've found that this greatly enhances the
readability of the code and significantly reduces the maintenance requirements.
This `hybrid' approach is especially nice for variable passing and stack
management.

Mike
DSP Video I/O Architecture
Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville, OR
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