ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the reader to a set of compiler options that, directly or indirectly, affect performance and footprint. It concerns the implementation of the 8B9B encoding algorithm. The chapter focuses on the improvement of code performance and footprint by working at the toolchain and source code levels. Performance and footprint optimization are a very important aspect of embedded software development. The interesting way of enhancing code performance without impairing portability, is to work at the algorithmic and source code levels. The toolchain used for the evaluation places all the components into a bank of DRAM external to the microcontroller, which is accessed by means of a 16-bit data bus, to reduce costs. The toolchain is able to generate code for any variant in the family and the kind of processor to be targeted can be specified by means of the -mcpu or -march options.
