The ARM Optimizing C/C++ Compiler User's Guide explains how to use the following Texas Instruments Code Generation compiler tools:

• Compiler
• Library build utility
• C++ name demangler

The TI compiler accepts C and C++ code conforming to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards for these languages. The compiler supports the 1989, 1999, and 2011 versions of the C language and the 2014 version of the C++ language.

This user's guide discusses the characteristics of the TI C/C++ compiler. It assumes that you already know how to write C/C++ programs. The C Programming Language (second edition), by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie, describes C based on the ISO C standard. You can use the Kernighan and Ritchie (hereafter referred to as K&R) book as a supplement to this manual. References to K&R C (as opposed to ISO C) in this manual refer to the C language as defined in the first edition of Kernighan and Ritchie's The C Programming Language.

This document uses the following conventions:

• Program listings, program examples, and interactive displays are shown in a special typeface. Interactive displays use a bold version of the special typeface to distinguish commands that you enter from items that the system displays (such as prompts, command output, error messages, etc.). Here is a sample of C code:

       #include <stdio.h>
       main()
       {    printf("Hello World\n");
       }

• In syntax descriptions, instructions, commands, and directives are in a bold typeface and parameters are in an italic typeface. Portions of a syntax that are in bold should be entered as shown; portions of a syntax that are in italics describe the type of information that should be entered.
• Square brackets ( [ and ] ) identify an optional parameter. If you use an optional parameter, you specify the information within the brackets. Unless the square brackets are in the bold typeface, do not enter the brackets themselves. The following is an example of a command that has an optional parameter:

  armcl [options] [filenames] [--run_linker [link_options] [object files]]

• Braces ( { and } ) indicate that you must choose one of the parameters within the braces; you do not enter the braces themselves. This is an example of a command with braces that are not included in the actual syntax but indicate that you must specify either the --rom_model or --ram_model option:

  armcl --run_linker  {--rom_model | --ram_model} filenames [--output_file= name.out]
  	--library= libraryname

• In assembler syntax statements, the leftmost column is reserved for the first character of a label or symbol. If the label or symbol is optional, it is usually not shown. If a label or symbol is a required parameter, it is shown starting against the left margin of the box, as in the example below. No instruction, command, directive, or parameter, other than a symbol or label, can begin in the leftmost column.

  symbol .usect "section name", size in bytes[, alignment]

• Some directives can have a varying number of parameters. For example, the .byte directive. This syntax is shown as [, ..., parameter].

• The ARM® 16-bit instruction set is referred to as 16-BIS.
• The ARM 32-bit instruction set is referred to as 32-BIS.