Abstract: | The growing complexity and high efficiency requirements of embedded systems call for new code optimization techniques and architecture exploration, using retargetable C and C++ compilers. The first commercial tools are already in industrial use. Meanwhile, researchers are developing new processor-specific code generation techniques that continually narrow the code quality gap between C compilers and assembly programming. The approaches that achieve the right balance of flexibility, code quality, retargeting effort, and compatibility with existing design tools will be successful |