Zhirui Dai

CamelStudio X

CamelStudio X

CamelStudio X is an IDE designed for developing software running on SoC designed by Camel Microelectronics Inc. This software and its related tools are adpoted for commercial usage now.

Why It Came to the World

When I was taking the course of SoC as a sophomore, I found there was no IDE for developing the targeted SoC on my MacBook Pro. As a geek, I launched this project and finished it independently. So, CamelStudio X was borned! Now, students can use CamelStudio X for learning how to programming the embedded system in the course on their favorite macOS devices.

Core Modules

To make CamelStudio X an IDE for hardware development, a bunch of essential modules are required.

  • Cross compiler toolchains for compiling the source code into machine code for the target platform
  • A make system for coordinating compiler tools
  • ELF converter that can generate the firmware for the targeted embedded system by analyzing the compiler output
  • Serial port communication interface that can transmit data between the embeded system and the upper computer

Features and Functionalities

Simple and User-friendly UI

CamelStudio X is a beautiful IDE. Its UI supports automatic dark theme adaptation. The editor supports syntax highlighting for C, C++, and assembly. The UI is kept as concise as possible to lower the learning threshold.

Detailed and Well-arranged Project Setting Page

A project of embedded system software can be very complicated. CamelStudio X provides a carefully designed project setting page so that users do not have to write their own Makefile to tell the make system how to compile the source files.

Powerful Serial Tool

CamelStudio X provides a serial tool which supports

  • uploading program
  • switching the chip from the root menu to the targeted program

Github

CamelStudio X is open-sourced. It is not only an excellent IDE but also a good example of software engineering if you are interested in how an IDE is developed.