Embedded Systems Design

San Jose, Calif. — Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has introduced PSoC Designer 5.0, which the company touts as the industry's first and only integrated design environment that includes both code-free and high-level language programming modes in one package.

PSoC Designer 5.0 combines the PSoC Express visual embedded system design tool with the full-featured PSoC Designer software to create a new design paradigm, Cypress said. Users can now start projects in a drag-and-drop visual design mode (system-level view) and then move to code-based design in C language (chip-level view) to refine and customize their projects, all from within a single tool.

In addition to integrating the PSoC Express functionality, the PSoC Designer 5.0 tool includes the more powerful version 9.61 of the HI-TECH C PRO compiler for the PSoC Mixed-Signal Array. The new compiler includes a new "Lite" mode that designers can use free of charge without any time or code-size limits usually associated with free compilers.

PSoC Designer 5.0 also includes a number of upgrades focused on usability including graphical user interface features based on familiar software best practices.

Pricing: Users can download PSoC Designer 5.0 free of charge at www.cypress.com/psocdesigner

Cypress Semiconductor, www.cypress.com