NECTO Studio 3.0

Published: 09/03/2023 | Post categories: Compilers, Compilers Roadmap Update

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NECTO Studio 3.0

 

Dear NECTO Studio user,
NECTO 3.0 is here!

Welcome to the March 2023 release of NECTO Studio. We enjoy making your development and coding more relaxing, effortless, and more fun. The MIKROE team tries to make NECTO Studio a better and richer IDE daily by improving existing and forging new components. This magnificent release brings many cool new features. We are introducing NECTO AI assistant - an AI question & answering system fed with data from NECTO Studio help, mikroSDK help, Click boards™ help, and data from specific MCU datasheets. Another powerful new feature is an Application output panel that lets you view debug-related information and trace information directly from NECTO Studio. Its true potential is revealed when used within Planet Debug to trace logs from Click boards™. We also present you the Custom board tool - the tool for creating and adding custom-user boards into mikroSDK and NECTO Studio.

Along with these additions, mikroSDK has undergone a couple of improvements. We have changed the Logger to use either standard NECTO Studio application output or UART. Long sought-after Arduino Uno Rev3 has been added as well.

We also bring improvements and significant advancements in compilers for PIC32, ARM, and dsPIC with improved compile and link speed time of up to 300% for large projects. And that's not all. We have also enhanced the programming and debugging speed over the WiFi interface for various MCU architectures.

NECTO Studio has survived some colossal changes. Just to name a few:
 

 

  • NECTO AI assistant
  • Application output
  • Custom board tool

Continue reading to see what new features and improvements the software department worked on.

NEW FEATURES

1. NECTO AI assistant:

We proudly present you a completely new level of help in NECTO Studio. It is an AI-powered question & answering system. The system is being fed with data from NECTO Studio help, mikroSDK and Click board help, and data from MCU datasheets (registers information, tables, and more). Forget about endless scrolling through MCU PDFs in search of certain information.

Ask anything in natural language form, and the assistant will list potential answers that best match your question. Also, you can select a function in your code or the Library manager, and you will get help hitting the F1 button.

2. Application output:

Writing, debugging or tracing information to the application output window in NECTO Studio is now possible. It is incredibly convenient if used in combination with Planet Debug to trace logs from Click boards™.

You can now choose between UART or application output window as an output channel for logging messages from your project.

3. Custom board tool:

Have you assembled your HW board and want to see it in mikroSDK and NECTO Studio for use within a setup? No problem! You can easily create a new one with the help of the wizard-like Custom Board Tool. It will guide you through the steps and generate and install all the needed code. You can also share your board with others or even make it public and include it in the next official version of mikroSDK.

3 custom board tool necto 3.0.0

4. Designer:

We have added a new ellipse component into NECTO Designer and code generator.

4 designer necto 30

5. mikroSDK:

mikroSDK has undergone a series of improvements. Just to name a few:

  • mikroSDK logger has been modified to comply with the latest changes to NECTO Studio. Users can now choose between built-in application output and hardware UART for their projects.
  • Addition of custom boards is now easier than ever in combination with the powerful new tool and adapted mikroSDK BSP layer.
  • Graphic library has a new object - ellipse
  • Arduino Uno Rev3 board has been added to mikroSDK along with whole mikroBUS module support.

IMPROVEMENTS

Last time we provided you with an update on PIC and AVR compilers and link speed improvement. We haven’t forgotten about the others either.Take a look:

1. Compilers

  • Improved speed of compile and linking time for mikroC AI for PIC32 from 30 % up to 300% for large projects
  • Improved speed of compile and linking time for mikroC AI for ARM by 30 % up to 300% for large projects
  • Improved speed of compile and linking time for mikroC AI for dsPICby 30 % up to 300% for large projects

2. CODEGRIP & GDB

  • Enhanced speed of programming and debugging over the WiFi interface for PIC32 family microcontrollers by up to 50% 

For a full list of changes, please take a look at the following document.

What's coming next?

  • NECTO Studio v3.1.0
  • mikroSDK 2.8.0 with complete dsPIC support
  • NECTO Studio help update
  • GCC ARM support
  • and more

For a full list of all improvements and bug fixes please check out the RoadMap and Release changes on the NECTO Studio page.