Santa Barbara, CA. February 29, 2000 -- Green Hills Software today announced a new optimizing C/C++ compiler for the PowerPC architecture that provides extensive support for Motorola's AltiVec technology, which is featured in their new MPC7400 processor. The new Green Hills compiler makes it easy for PowerPC developers to take full advantage of AltiVec's high-performance vector processing capabilities.

"Smart compilers are the key to unlocking the performance potential of advanced vector processing technologies like AltiVec," said John Carbone, vice president of marketing at Green Hills. "Our compilers not only make it easy for programmers to access the AltiVec instructions, but provide optimizations that enable those instructions to be utilized in the most effective manner."

"AltiVec provides a quantum boost in vector processing capability for the PowerPC architecture," added Kalpesh Gala, product manager for AltiVec technology at Motorola. "Green Hills' MULTI® Integrated Development Environment and optimizing C/C++ compiler make it possible for programmers to take full advantage of AltiVec's vector processing capabilities without having to be experts in AltiVec assembly language."

AltiVec is a SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) vector processing technology for the PowerPC architecture that enables the CPU to perform computationally intensive tasks without the need for a DSP or other coprocessor. The AltiVec vector processing unit can work on 128 bits of data at a time, processing up to four 32-bit, eight 16-bit, or sixteen 8-bit elements in parallel.

Green Hills' optimizing C/C++ compiler implements the AltiVec Programming model, a set of high-level intrinsics that enable programmers to access AltiVec instructions without having to program in assembly language. Green Hills' optimizing compiler also makes it easy for programmers to take full advantage of other PowerPC processing facilities that can operate in parallel, including its two integer units and floating point unit.

Green Hills' C/C++ compiler handles all scheduling activity for the PowerPC's integer, floating point, and vector processing units. To maximize scheduling efficiency, the compiler interleaves instructions between execution units and rearranges code to hide data load latency. The compiler also analyzes data dependencies and program flow to take advantage of the PowerPC's dual-fetch (for instructions) and out-of-order scheduling abilities, and unrolls loops so that they can be executed in parallel.

Another way that the compiler enhances performance is by taking advantage of the AltiVec instruction for reordering bytes within a word to fit a given pattern. This is useful for recognizing and resolving load and store operations to misaligned memory, such as I/O devices.

Green Hills' C/C++ compiler is fully scaleable. Through switch options, programmers can select any subset of C++ they want, from bare bones C, to full-blown ANSI/ISO C++. The compiler also supports Embedded C++ (EC++), a dialect of C++ optimized for resource-constrained embedded applications that achieves the efficiency of C while preserving many of the best object-oriented features of C++.

Green Hills' compilers are tightly integrated with the MULTI 2000 IDE, which automates all aspects of embedded software development for PowerPC processors. Available for Windows 95/98, Windows NT, and Unix host platforms, the MULTI IDE features a window-oriented editor, source-level debugger, graphical program builder, run-time error checker, version control system, performance profiler, optimizing profiler (CodeBalance™), and real-time RTOS EventAnalyzer. MULTI also features an instruction set simulator that allows programmers to develop and test code on a PC or workstation without the need for the target hardware.

More on Green Hills

Incorporated in 1982, Green Hills Software, Inc., is a leading supplier of software development tools for 32- and 64-bit embedded systems. Green Hills offers a family of optimizing C, C++, Embedded C++, Ada 95, FORTRAN and Pascal compilers. The company's unique MULTI Integrated Development Environment automates the compile-edit-build-debug cycle by integrating advanced facilities such as an RTOS-aware source-level debugger, performance profiler, program builder and version control system.

Green Hills Software's tools support all major 32-bit and 64-bit advanced microprocessor families and target environments, including instruction set simulators, ROM Monitors, commercial and home grown real-time operating systems (RTOS) and in-circuit emulators (ICE).

Green Hills Software is headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA., and has US offices in California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, and Florida. International headquarters are located in the United Kingdom, with offices in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. For sales information on Green Hills Software products, please call 1-805-965-6044 or email inquiries to sales@ghs.com.