Essential Embedded Tools for Developers

Previously shared in the article “Embedded Software Tools List” were some commonly used and well-known tools.

In this article, we will summarize some lesser-known but very practical auxiliary tools, hoping to be of help to everyone.

1. VSPD

Virtual Serial Port Driver (VSPD) is a virtual serial port software. Virtual serial port software simulates physical serial interfaces and completely replicates the functionality of hardware COM ports, recognized by the operating system and serial applications as real ports.

When writing a serial port upper computer, debugging is required. One way is to communicate with the lower computer for testing; another way is to use virtual serial port software for testing.

VSPD can virtualize 2 serial ports at a time, allowing for self-send and receive debugging.

At this point, we can see these two virtual serial ports in the device manager:

Now we can open two serial port debugging assistants to conduct send and receive tests:

Past articles: Tools | Sharing the Use of Virtual Serial Port Software

2. VirtLCD

VirtLCD is an LCD simulator. When using VirtLCD, we also need a demo (VirtSTM32) project to write our interface design code, which can be quickly moved to the STM32 project after debugging.

Past articles: Practical | Using LCD Simulator

3. VOFA+

VOFA+ (Vodka) is a high-freedom upper computer driven by plugins. It is a universal data debugging tool that makes graphical debugging as easy as serial port debugging. Data visualization can be completed by printing strings or sending hexadecimal numbers.

Past articles: Introduction to VOFA+ and Simple Use

4. Bus Hound

Bus Hound is a development tool for monitoring and controlling bus data packets on a PC. It is used to capture protocol packets and input/output operations from devices and is a powerful bus protocol analyzer.

For example, when debugging the lower computer with a USB upper computer, this tool can monitor whether the data sent by the upper computer is correct.

5. Valgrind

Valgrind is a collection of simulation debugging tools under Linux, open source (GPL V2). Valgrind tools include multiple tools such as Memcheck, Cachegrind, Helgrind, Callgrind, Massif.

Past articles: Tools | Using Valgrind Simulation Debugging Tools

6. Doxygen

Doxygen can generate corresponding .chm format manuals based on fixed-format code comments. It supports many languages such as C/C++/C#/Objective-C/PHP/Java, etc.

7. Meld

Meld is a cross-platform, visual comparison and merging tool. It provides bidirectional and three-way comparisons of files and directories and supports many popular version control systems.

Meld official website:

http://meldmerge.org/

Meld features:

• Bidirectional and three-way comparisons of files and directories.
• File comparison updates with your input.
• Automatic merge mode and operations on change blocks help make merging easier.
• Visualization makes it easier to compare your files.
• Supports Git, Bazaar, Mercurial, Subversion, etc.

Past articles: Sharing a Compact and Useful Code Comparison Tool

8. TscanCode

TscanCode is a static code scanning tool developed by Tencent, originally based on a secondary development of cppcheck. It has since been independently developed to support not only C/C++ but also C# and Lua languages, effectively discovering C/C++ null pointers, out-of-bounds, uninitialized, C# null references, and uninitialized Lua variables.

TscanCode’s GitHub link:

https://github.com/Tencent/TscanCode

Past articles: Recommended a Useful Embedded Static Code Scanning Tool!

9. LVGL GUI Guider

GUI Guider is a GUI design tool developed by NXP for LVGL, allowing users to design LVGL GUI pages by dragging and dropping controls, accelerating GUI design. The designed GUI pages can be simulated on a PC, and after confirming the design is complete, C code can be generated and integrated into the MCU project.

Past articles: Practical Tools | Sharing the Use of GUI-Guider

10. Little Panda C++ IDE

Little Panda C++ IDE is a domestic, cross-platform, lightweight, easy-to-use, open-source C/C++ integrated development environment!

• Lightweight and efficient: Little Panda C++ is developed based on QT and C++, using a built-in lightweight code analyzer for intelligent syntax analysis, requiring no large memory and CPU resources during runtime, providing a smooth running experience even on low-configuration machines.
• Multi-platform support: Little Panda C++ supports Windows 7/8/10, Linux, etc. to provide the same high-quality programming experience across various operating systems.
• GIT version management: Little Panda C++ has built-in git support for convenient version management of projects or work folders (requires additional git installation).
• Productivity enhancement: By integrating features like automatic indentation, intelligent code completion, intelligent syntax highlighting, and real-time syntax checking, Little Panda C++ provides a smooth code editing experience, significantly improving coding efficiency.