Compiler and library optimizations

• New libraries to support and optimize performance for devices without M
• Size-optimized libraries introduced as an option to the already existing speed-optimized versions
• Several compiler optimizations for speed and size

P extension DSP and Packed SIMD

• Support for the draft DSP and Packed SIMD specification, including intrinsic functions to support Andes DSP libraries.

Updated Trace capabilities

• Function profiling makes it possible to see and analyze timing information for the functions in an application
• Code coverage shows the percentage of code that has been executed
• Support for on-chip RAM-buffered Trace
• Enhanced support for SiFive Insight debug solution
• Automatic interrupt vector setup
• Support for automated interrupt vector setup for devices from Andes and GigaDevice

Extended C-STAT coverage for MISRA C:2012 Amendment 1

The Static analysis tool C-STAT has extended its coverage of the MISRA C:2012 Coding Standard and now fully supports MISRA C:2012 Amendment 1. This Amendment adds 14 additional rules to MISRA C:2012 with a focus on security concerns highlighted by the ISO C Secure Guidelines. Several of these address specific issues pertaining to the use of untrustworthy data, a well-known security vulnerability.

New supported devices

The following devices from GigaDevice are now supported: GD32VF103C4T6, GD32VF103C6T6, GD32VF103C8T6, GD32VF103CBT6, GD32VF103R4T6, GD32VF103R6T6, GD32VF103R8T6, GD32VF103RBT6, GD32VF103T4U6, GD32VF103T6U6, GD32VF103T8U6, GD32VF103TBU6, GD32VF103V8T6, GD32VF103VBT6

Highlights

• Updated device support
  Support has been added for the RH850/U2A, C1x, D1x, E1x and E2x series of microcontrollers.
• C18 support
  The default Standard C is now C18 (ISO/IEC 9899:2018).
• C++17 support
  The compiler now supports almost all C++17 features. The C++ library supports C++14 with no C++17 additions.
• Extended coverage of CERT C
  The static analysis tool C-STAT has extended its coverage of the SEI CERT C Coding Standard. The SEI CERT C Coding Standard's goal is to provide rules for developing safe, reliable and secure systems in the C programming language, with support for C11 constructs.
• Improved Source Browser
  The following improvements have been made to the Source Browser:
  - The source browser data is generated faster as it is now running as a separate thread.
  - New Source Browser Log window.
  - Status indicator in the status bar.
  - Enhanced feedback in case source browsing data cannot be generated.

• Documentation Comments support in the editor
  The editor can distinguish comments that start with /**, /*!, /// or //! as Documentation Comments. Inside a Documentation Comment, the editor can recognize keywords that begin with \ or @. If the keyword is recognized as a doxygen keyword, the Documentation Comment will appear in tooltips and parameter hints for variables and functions. See IAR Embedded Workbench IDE Project Management and Building Guide for more information.

Highlights

• Improved Source Browser
The following improvements have been made to the Source Browser: 
- The source browser data is generated faster as it is now running as a separate thread
- New Source Browser Log window
- Status indicator in the status bar
- Enhanced feedback in case source browsing data cannot be generated

• Support for new devices

Support for ATtiny1624, ATtiny1626, and ATtiny1627 has been added. 

Highlights

New devices

The following new devices have been added:
MSP430FR6007, MSP430FR6005, MSP430FR2672 and MSP430FR2673

Elprotronic XStream-Iso and XStreamPro-Iso

Support for the new XStream-Iso and XStreamPro-Iso adapters has been added. See Elprotronic MSP430 products for details.

Improved source browser

The following improvements have been made to the source browser: 

• The source browser data is generated faster as it is now running as a separate thread
• New source browser log window
• New status indicator in the status bar
• Enhanced feedback when source browsing data cannot be generated

Error corrections

Several reported issues have been fixed. See release notes of individual components for details.

Highlights

• Nexus IEEE-ISTO 5001™ compatible trace
  The Embedded Workbench for RISC-V now support the I-jet Trace probes and a first implementation of trace based on the Nexus Protocol. Trace adapters for the Arty A7-100T FPGA development platform can be used to enable capture of external 4-bit trace via the Pmod connectors. Trace viewers including time-line visualization and search capabilities are enabled in the Embedded Workbench IDE.

Extended coverage of CERT C

The static analysis tool C-STAT has extended its coverage of the SEI CERT C Coding Standard. The SEI CERT C Coding Standard's goal is to provide rules for developing safe, reliable and secure systems in the C programming language, with support for C11 constructs. C-STAT covers all rules in the different CERT C sections listed at the CERT C wiki as of January 2020, with the exception of the API, CON, POS and WIN sections which are not applicable to our products, yielding a total of 90 covered rules.

Link analysis trace information

The link analysis messages now display trace information when relevant. For checks looking for conflicting symbol names, all conflicting declarations are now listed in the trace information instead of each pair of conflicts being described in a separate message. This might lead to fewer reported messages for the same number of found issues.

Support for new devices

• Epson S1C31D01, S1C31D50
• Hilscher netX90
• Microchip SAM9X60
• Nordic nRF5340_xxAA
• NXP LPC5512, LPC5514, LPC5516, LPC55S14, LPC55S16, K32L2A31xxxxA, K32L2A41xxxxA, MIMXRT633S, MIMXRT685S, QN9030, QN9090
• Renesas R7FA2A1AB, R7FA4M1AB, R7FA6M1AD, R7FA6M2AD, R7FA6M2AF, R7FA6M3AF, R7FA6M3AH, R7S910020, R7S910021, R7S910022, R7S910023

Highlights

• RX72N and RX66N supported
  The RX72N and RX66N groups of microcontrollers are now supported.
• Renesas Smart Configurator update
  The Renesas Smart Configurator (included) has been updated to V2.4.0.

C18 support
The default Standard C is now C18 (ISO/IEC 9899:2018).

C++17 support
The compiler now supports almost all C++17 features. The C++ library supports C++14 with no C++17 additions.

Improved Source Browser
The following improvements have been made to the Source Browser:

The source browser data is generated faster as it is now running as a separate thread.

New Source Browser Log window.

Status indicator in the status bar.

Enhanced feedback in case source browsing data cannot be generated.

EZ-CUBE2 On-Chip Debug Emulator support
The EZ-CUBE2 On-Chip Debug Emulator, primarily targeted for the Chinese market, is now supported.

E2 emulator power debugging in C-SPY
The E2 emulator allows you to measure the dynamically changing current drawn by the user system. This is visualized as a graph in the C-SPY Timeline window as well as a list of time-current value pairs in the Power Log window. It is also possible to stop execution when the current goes above or below a certain user-defined threshold value.

Documentation Comments support in the editor
The editor can distinguish comments that start with /**, /*!, /// or //! as Documentation Comments. Inside a Documentation Comment, the editor can recognize keywords that begin with \ or @. If the keyword is recognized as a doxygen keyword, the Documentation Comment will appear in tooltips and parameter hints for variables and functions. See IAR Embedded Workbench IDE Project Management and Building Guide for more information.

Updated user documentation
The IDE Project Management and Building Guide, C-SPY Debugging Guide and C/C++ Development Guide have been updated to reflect the product changes.

Improved Source Browser
The following improvements have been made to the Source Browser:

• The source browser data is generated faster as it is now running as a separate thread.
• New Source Browser Log window.
• Status indicator in the status bar.
• Enhanced feedback in case source browsing data cannot be generated.

Documentation Comments support in the editor
The editor can distinguish comments that start with /**, /*!, /// or //! as Documentation Comments. Inside a Documentation Comment, the editor can recognize keywords that begin with \ or @. If the keyword is recognized as a doxygen keyword, the Documentation Comment will appear in tooltips and parameter hints for variables and functions. See IAR Embedded Workbench IDE Project Management and Building Guide for more information.

Newer version of C-STAT
The static analysis tool C-STAT has been updated with 20 additional rules, a number of bugfixes and better reporting function.

Support new debugger
Support for STLINK-V3 has been added.

Updated IDE look and feel

The IDE has new artwork, enhancements to window management and docking, customizable toolbars, revised Information Center, and new tutorials.

Enhanced Registers and Symbols windows in C-SPY

The C-SPY Symbols and Registers windows have been re-designed with new features. The Symbols window now has a filtering function and a new column displaying to which program module a certain symbol belongs. Some of the new features in the Registers window are drag-and-drop support from source code windows, detailed register tool-tip information, and improved handling of user-defined registers groups.

Improved C-STAT Static analysis

• New checks have been added including about 20 new checks in the MISRA C 2004 package.
• Improved analysis engine which increases the analysis precision.
• The time-consuming false-positive analysis is now disabled by default but can be enabled by an option in the IAR Embedded Workbench IDE or on the command line.
• A new option in the IAR Embedded Workbench IDE makes it possible to limit the number of messages generated per check and per file.
• C-STAT message suppression can now be controlled by directives placed in comments in the source files.
• A new option --deterministic has been added to ensure a deterministic amount of messages when running icstat with multiple threads, so that the amount of messages stays approximately the same from one analysis run to another. This option puts a limit on the option --parallel.

Updated user documentation

The IDE Project Management and Building Guide has been updated to reflect the product changes.

New device support

• Silicon Labs: EFM8UB31F40G, EFM8UB30F40G
• Nuvoton: ML51 - ML51BB9AE, ML51DB9AE, ML51FB9AE, ML51OB9AE, ML51XB9AE, ML51EB9AE, ML51UB9AE, ML51PB9AE, ML51TB9AE, ML51EC0AE, ML51UC0AE, ML51PC0AE, ML51TC0AE, ML51LC0AE, ML51PD1AE, ML51MD1AE, ML51LD1AE, ML51SD1AE, MS51 - MS51FB9AE, MS51XB9AE, MS51XB9BE, MS51OB9AE, N76E013
• Texas Instruments: MSC1213Y2, MSC1213Y3, MSC1213Y4, MSC1213Y5, MSC1214Y2, MSC1214Y3, MSC1214Y4, MSC1214Y5

Improvement in C-STAT

Improved full report generation to reduce the risk of slowing down the IAR Embedded Workbench and/or external web-browser.

Parallel build

IAR Embedded Workbench can now build projects using multiple parallel processes. This can improve build performance significantly on multi-core or multiple processor computers. 

C-SPY debugger improvements

• There is now a search box in the C-SPY Register window for finding a specific register.
• It is now possible to sort the entries in the C-SPY Statics window by clicking on the respective column header.
• If a selection is made in the C-SPY Memory window, then the Find and Replace context menu commands now operate just on this selection.
• The new C-SPY macro __MessageBoxYesNo displays a Yes/Cancel dialog box and returns the user input. Typically, this can be useful for creating macros that require user interaction.

Building all configurations with iarbuild

By specifying a wildcard character (*) as the configuration name, it is now possible to clean/build/make all configurations defined in the project file by calling iarbuild.exe only once.