StormC V3.0 PowerPC allows for the flexible programming of the PowerPC dual-processor board by phase 5. StormC uses an extended amiga-hunk-format for object codes and executable programs.

The advantages of the extended hunk format compared to the ELF favoured by phase 5 consist in the ability to generate mixed-binaries, fat-binaries and even PowerPC-native shared libraries. The porting of existing software is greatly simplified by this. The rapid-porting allowed by this now gives developers the chance to do a quick test-port before starting to specifically compile single modules or routines for certain processors. This solution guarantees that very soon after the PowerUP-boards start to ship applications will be available that can squeeze the last bit of speed out of these dual-processor boards.

The compiler that is part of this module supports the programming of all 68K-CPUs as well as the PowerPC-CPUs 603, 604 and their respective e-variants. The choice of which compiler to use is made in the project. Because of the hierarchical project organization the generation of 68K- and PowerPC mixed-binaries is a piece of cake. The command set of the the PowerPC is extensively supported. Speed-enhancing commands like rlwlml, fnmadds, frsqrt, dctb, etc. are used by the compiler if the appropriate switches are set. The PowerPC-scheduler ensures a clean and quick execution of your program by intelligently filling the many pipelines with suitable commands as it is common practice for risc-processors. The automatic cache-performance optimization ensures a maximum speed for RAM-access, especially on systems with slow RAM-interfaces.

Even a compiler with the best optimisation imaginable is of little use if no suitable libraries are available for it. For this reason, the StormC-PowerUP package ships with PPC-native ANSI-C- and math-libraries, giving everything you need to directly port your ANSI-projects.

The documentation supplied with the add-on modules describes the use of the new interface, the basic characteristics provided by the new options, and the newly available programming strategies.

StormPowerASM

StormC v3.0 - PowerASM Module. Brand new and as unique as the StormC PowerPC-module is the assembler-module that is also available as a stand-alone program. StormPowerASM is a PowerPC-assembler for Amiga computers. It supports the entire PowerPC-commandset and on top of that offers several hundred extended mnemonics that make programming easier and greatly increase the readability of the source code. Its outstanding macro-abilities and the support of floating-point expressions and -operators prove the high level of this new PowerPC programming system.

The documentation describes programming the PowerPC. A list of all macros and directives (featuring extensive descriptions) is also part of the documentation, as well as detailed information on our hardware-layer.

StormC for pOS

Obviously a new PowerPC Amiga will also require a new operating system. What use are high processor speeds after all, if they are wasted on an old operating system bogged down by emulation overhead? With pOS, proDAD presents a new generation of system software that we consider the prime candidate for the next Amiga generation.

For this reason it is no more than logical that our development tools can be used to develop software for pOS. StormC is already being used intensively in the development of pOS itself; thus it goes without saying that it can also be used to compile programs that run under pOS.

The pOS version of StormWIZARD, which has also been completed, enables you to port your own software to this operating system with a minimum of effort. Your investments in Amiga software development are secure with the Storm line of development tools!