This table summarises and compares the features of each edition of Astrobe for each type of Arm Cortex-M microcontroller.

indicates new features in v10 (Q1/Q2 2025).

IDE / Editor	M0	M3	M4	M7
Standard Windows, programmer-oriented, text-editing features Fast and responsive interactive operation Tabbed multi-document interface for editing multiple source files (modules) Split-screen editing Regular expression support in Find / Replace Bookmarks Line modification indicators Optional line numbers, printing features etc. etc. The module in the current window is the target of the compiler / linker / builder User-customisable Tools menu for integrating batch files, Windows commands or 3rd-party applications Desktop HTML Help
Oberon Language-oriented Editing
Automatic syntax colouring of language elements as you type Auto-capitalisation of keywords as you type
Code Navigation
Alphabetical auto-indexed list of procedures. Click on the name to go to the procedure in the source code. Auto-indexed list of imported modules. Click on the module name to open the file.
General Language Features
Oberon is a general-purpose programming language first published in 1987. Conforms to the latest revision of the Standard Oberon Language Constant, Type, Variable and Procedure declarations Local and Global declarations Integer, Byte, Boolean, Char, Set and Procedure data types 32-bit IEEE Real data types and operations Array and Record structured data types Direct assignment of structured data types Pointers to Records for dynamic memory allocation Open array parameters If-elsif-else statements For, Repeat, While and While-elsif loops Case (switch) statements Nested procedures Type-extension capabilities for Object-Oriented programming Assertions for validating input / output parameters Type-checking / consistency validation across modules Read-only access to external global variables Nested comments Conditional Compilation via BOOLEAN constants
Embedded Programming Features / Language Extensions
Interrupt handling procedures Direct access to registers using SYSTEM.REG and SYSTEM.LDREG Type casting using SYSTEM.VAL Direct access to the Cortex-M REV, REV16 and REVSH instructions Explicit read / write access to memory-mapped peripheral device registers using SYSTEM functions GET and PUT Low-level SYSTEM functions ADR, BIT, EMIT etc. for absolute memory addressing, bit testing, emitting code instructions etc. Byte-level addressing of all built-in and user-defined data types and structures Inline bitfield insert and extract functions BFI and BFX
Performance Optimisation
Runtime checks are disabled locally in Leaf procedures
Registers are used instead of the stack to store selected local variables in Leaf procedures.
Single instructions used for DIV, MOD, RBIT, BFI and BFX
Cortex-M floating-point hardware used for real operations: add, subtract, multiply, divide and square root
Fast Native-code Compilation
Fast single-pass modular compilation One-click to compile the module in the current window Only the current module needs to be compiled if the interfaces of imported modules are unchanged Pre-compiled symbol files are used for fast access to imported modules Compilation continues to the end to find as many errors as possible Compilation errors are displayed in a separate window Click on an error line to take you to the actual line in the source
Linking / Building
Creates compact and fast native-code executables Automated Build feature identifies and recompiles all outdated modules before linking There is no need to maintain separate 'make' files. The names and locations of imported modules are already known at link time. Interfaces of imported modules are validated at link time to ensure consistency and eliminate obscure runtime errors Compile, link and build options are stored in configuration files Multiple projects for the same target can share a single configuration file Configuration file settings for multiple library search paths Configuration file settings for application code, data, stack and heap addresses User-customisable Tools menu to launch Windows applications or command-line utilities of your choice from the Astrobe menu
Debugging and Error trapping
Language support for validation of procedure parameters, pre- and post-conditions using assertions Compilation warnings for unused constants, types, variables, procedures and imported modules. Automatic array index bounds checking Runtime library Out can be used to send trace output to the Astrobe terminal window via a UART serial connection Runtime errors and failed assertions are identified by a callback trace with module and procedure names and source line numbers
Uploading and Running
No special hardware flash programming tool is required Upload via USB drive Integrated terminal emulator communicates via a UART with a program running on the target device
User Library Modules
Bits - Perform bitwise operations on INTEGERs Convert - Integers <-> strings conversion DateTime - Date and time string conversion Error - Standard error codes and messages used by Traps GPIO - General Purpose I/O Configuration and Control Graphics - Device-independent drawing of lines, circles and ellipses I2C - Control serial RAMs and EEPROMS, LCDs, accelerometers, temperature and pressure gauges, compasses etc. In - ASCII text input of chars, strings and integers LinkOptions - Access the user-supplied link-time configuration settings MCU - Definitions of peripheral register addresses to access the target's features e.g. GPIO, NVIC, RCC, RTC, I2C, SPI, Timers and UART. Main - Initialisation code required by the applications Math - Mathematical and trigonometrical functions Out - Formatted ASCII text output of chars, strings and integers Put - String handling helper functions RTC - Update and access the current date and time Random - Random number generation Reals - Reals <-> strings conversion ResData - Resource data handling (constant data, images, fonts etc.) SPI - Serial Peripheral Interface: control LCD displays, SD cards, 7-segment LEDs, and digital sensors such as accelerometers, magnetometers, etc. Serial - Serial input and output communication via USARTs Storage - Memory allocation / deallocation of pointer variables Strings - General text string processing Timers - Microsecond / millisecond time measurement and delays Traps - Runtime and assertion error handling
System Library Modules
MAU - Memory Allocation Unit
FPU - Floating point operations implemented in software			N/A	N/A
Memory Limits (KB)
RAM	32	128	192	512
Flash	256	1024	2048	2048
NOTE: The above RAM and Flash limits are imposed by the microcontrollers that are currently supported, not by Astrobe.
Source Code
Full source code of library and runtime modules M0 Example modules M3 Example modules M4 Example modules M7 Example modules
Disassemblers
List the Arm assembler instructions with procedure headings and source lines for the compiled current module List the Arm assembler instructions with module / procedure headings for the linked application	Professional Edition
Command-line Compiler, Linker, Builder and Disassembler
Compile, Link, Build and Disassemble applications using batch files, 3rd-party IDEs and build tools	Professional Edition
Commercial Applications
Develop and deploy commercial applications with no additional runtime fees	Professional Edition