1996: An ARM and a Thumb

From 1996 until 2006, a full decade, Mike served as the MetaWare High C/C++ ARM/Thumb Compiler & Tools chief developer, team lead, and liaison to ARM Ltd.  Among many other significant accomplishments, Mike maintained the MetaWare ARM tools as the state of the art in optimization and performance for the ARM/Thumb platform.

10 Years On Top

For an entire decade, Mike maintained and enhanced the MetaWare C/C++ ARM/Thumb Compiler, keeping ahead of the competition in speed and especially space benchmarks.

1st StrongARM Compiler

In collaboration with Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Mike developed the first compiler to specifically target the StrongARM processor, with low-level instruction scheduling and other pipeline optimizations. 

1st Inter File 16-32 Bit Interworking

Mike produced the first ARM/Thumb 32/16 bit compiler to provide for mixed mode source files, allowing each function within a file to be compiled with different interworking settings.

1st Mixed-Endian ARM Compiler

Incorporating MetaWare's robust multi-platform technology, Mike produced the first stable working compiler to compile both big-endian and little-endian ARM models.

1st PIC/PID and Shared Library DLL ARM/Thumb Compiler

Mike developed the beginnings of an ARM EABI protocol, not only with the early introduction of a proprietary optimized dynamic linking (REENT) model while white papers from ARM, Ltd. were still plagued by multiple inconsistencies, but also later, in collaboration with ARM, Ltd., for their revised API and shared library model. As a key participant with other MetaWare developers, Mike helped the fledgling Embedded world to define and clarify the multiple nuances of position-independent code (PIC), and associated data (PID), as well as the first coherent unambiguous definition of dynamic vs. static reentrancy, which ultimately led to industry wide acknowledgement of the issues and expenses of the various PIC/PID/DLL models. As a byproduct of this research, Mike produced the 1st stable implementation of PIC/PID and shared libraries for the ARM/Thumb platform, conforming to the new standards finalized by ARM, Ltd.,  a full year before all competitors.

1st Misaligned Data Capable ARM/Thumb Compiler

Again, leveraging off MetaWare's robust technology, Mike delivered the first ARM/Thumb compiler capable of loading and storing misaligned data.

3 Time Champion: Soft Floating Point Library Optimization

In a head to head battle that spanned a decade, Mike continuously overhauled and rewrote the MetaWare assembly-language floating-point library to achieve outstandingly better performance than any of the competition including ARM, Ltd.

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