ARM releases a free Android code optimiser and debugging environment

CHIP DESIGNER ARM has released a free Android application developer toolkit to optimise code for its processors.

ARM's chip designs are found in the vast majority of smartphones and tablets, however like all chip designers the firm provides compilers and development tools to help developers optimise code for its architecture. ARM's Development Studio 5 Community Edition (DS-5 CE) is a free version dedicated to Android application development.

Although ARM's DS-5 CE is a cut down version of the firm's full Developer Studio 5, the firm claims that the software runs alongside the Android software and native development code. The goal of ARM's DS-5 CE is to allow developers to optimise code, especially when coded in Android's native development kit (NDK) C and C++ languages.

Applications for Google's Android operating system can be coded using the Android SDK, which prescribes Java. However, Google suggests that developers use Android's NDK for CPU intensive tasks, using C or C++ libraries. Although judging the performance trade-offs between Java, C and C++ is a complex business, in most cases C and C++ object code is faster and has lower memory requirements than Java bytecode.

John Cornish, EVP and general manager of the system design division at ARM said, "ARM DS-5 Community Edition offers developers an easy to use environment for debugging and optimizing C/C++ code. This allows them to take full advantage of ARM processor technology using native code to deliver the performance and functionality that consumers demand."

ARM's DS5-CE is available for download now. µ