All Episodes

May 27, 2025 13 mins

Welcome back to the EdgeVerse Techcast! In this episode, co-hosts Kyle Dando and Bridgette Stone are joined by Jose Ocampo Hernandez, Product Marketing Manager for Visual Studio Code, to explore the extensive debugging capabilities of the NXP MCUXpresso extension for VS Code. Learn about debug probe support, essential debugging tools, the new Memory Inspector, RTOS Details view, and the Peripheral View. Jose also shares some recent improvements and valuable resources for developers. Don't miss this insightful discussion if you're looking to simplify and enhance your debugging process with NXP's powerful tools.

Like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode! 

00:00 Welcome to the EdgeVerse Techcast

00:40 Introducing Jose Ocampo Hernandez

02:02 Debug Capabilities in VS Code Extension

02:58 Exploring Debug Tools and Features

04:44 Memory Inspector Extension

07:19 RTOS Thread View Returns

09:18 Peripheral View Overview

10:47 Resources and Final Thoughts

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kyle Dando (00:10):
Hey everyone.
I'm your co-host, Kyle Dando, andwelcome back to the EdgeVerse Techcast.
This is again your go-to placefor everything related to NXP's
software, tools and enablement,specifically tailored for NXP's
Processors and Microcontrollers.

Bridgette Stone (00:29):
And I'm Bridgette Stone.
Today we're revisiting the NXP MCUXpressoextension for Visual Studio Code.
Mr. Dando's favorite topic?

Kyle Dando (00:39):
Heck yeah!.

Bridgette Stone (00:40):
We've got a, we've got a really exciting episode ahead, and
we're joined by Jose Ocampo Hernandez,Product Marketing Manager for VS Code.
Jose, welcome to the show.

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (00:52):
Hey Bridgette and Kyle thanks for having me.
I'm super excited to be here andshare some new updates with you all.

Kyle Dando (01:00):
Jose, why don't you share a little bit about yourself
first before I start grillingyou with all the tough questions

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (01:06):
Yeah, so Bridgette mentioned that I was
the Product Manager for VS Code.
So that's what I do here at NXP.
And something interesting aboutmyself, well I suppose I like
karaoke, but I'm a terrible singer,so I'd probably drive down your
listener count if I start singing.

Bridgette Stone (01:24):
Oh, we always like, uh, cameos.
So I don't know, Jose and Iguess, We gotta come up with a new
nickname for you, maybe karaoke.
Jose?
What's your go-to, , song?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez: Uh, definitely Tequila. (01:36):
undefined

Bridgette Stone (01:38):
Ooh, I love it.
Well, thanks again for being here today.
Let's kick it off.
I know you work very closely withthe NXP IDE team to produce top
tier tools for our customers.
Cristian Tepus was already onthe show and did an excellent
introduction to the VS Code extension.

(01:58):
What are you most excitedto dive into today, Jose?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (02:02):
Well, Cristian's episode did a great job of introducing
all the benefits of VS Code.
It mostly focused on how NXP makes iteasy to get started with the SDK and
example projects for evaluation kits.
But what I really want to divedeeper on is the debug capabilities

(02:22):
offered by the VS Code extension.
So, a developer will expect aminimum level of support during
the debug process of the project.
I want our discussion to leavethe listener confident that the
MCUXpresso extension for VS Code hasthem covered, and in some aspects
even ahead of the competition.

Bridgette Stone (02:44):
Yes.
I love it.
So let's start with the basics.
What do developers expect fromdebug support in an IDE and
does the NXP extension for VSCode meet those expectations?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (02:56):
Great idea.
Let's start there.
So for the first item we're gonnatalk about debug probe support.
Some customers prefer SEGGERJ-Link or PEmicro probes.
NXP provides support forthose popular probes, but also
for our own MCU-Link probes.
The next item is debug controls.
So these include Resume,Stop, Restart, stop.

(03:19):
I think I said stop twice.
But you know, the basic tools that willessentially let developers like me use
print statements like "here", "herealternate", "here alternate 2", and so on.
When my code executes.
Next we have a bit more of in-depthdebugging tools like Breakpoints,

(03:40):
Variables, LiveWatch for expressions,Disassembly view, and a Call Stack view.
But overall the VS Code editor windowfront and center is very easy to use.

Bridgette Stone (03:53):
Nice Jose.
Very solid overview.
Debugging made easy with all thoseessential tools right at your fingertips.
It's like having a whole toolbox,but without the messy drawer!

Kyle Dando (04:03):
Haa

Bridgette Stone (04:03):
So to clarify.
Are all of these powerfultools available for bare metal,
Zephyr, and FreeRTOS projects?
Because we know developers love havingeverything at their disposal no matter
what projects they're working on.

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (04:17):
Absolutely.
Once the Debug Perspective islaunched, it provides an intuitive
experience for all these toolsacross different project types.

Kyle Dando (04:26):
Okay.
Okay.
It's, it's my turn to ask Jose a question.
I think this one the listenersare really gonna like.
So what is an underappreciated toolthat was added to the MCUXpresso
extension by our developers thatreally help with the Debug process.

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (04:44):
Recently there have been improvements to
the tools around debugging memory.
NXP added support for theMemory Inspector extension.
And what this is, it's acollaborative extension developed
by the Eclipse CDT Cloud Group.
This includes several semiconductorvendors that contributed requirements
to deliver a best in class tool forviewing memory on a target device.

(05:08):
What NXP did is we added this extensionto immediately provide debugging features
involving memory needed by developers.

Kyle Dando (05:19):
All right.
Jose, memory seems like a prettystraightforward concept, so how
does this Memory Inspector toolstand out from what we used to have?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (05:29):
Well before we added this extension, you would be
surprised in the amount of requeststhat we receive for these features.
It's more importantly than you realizeuntil you need to inspect what is
going on in your device's memory.
The feature as it stands can editmemory, and this is by far the
biggest request that we've seen.

(05:51):
With this developers can now modifymemory to troubleshoot their software.
It also contains Syntax Highlighting andthis extension really does a great job
of visualizing the contents in memory.
It will also color memoryblocks for specific variables.
It also contains a memory format,and with this many users just wanted

(06:15):
to be able to toggle between Hex,Octal, Binary and ASCII formats.
Last, we have the ability to customizea memory region and have multiple
different views based on address ranges.

Kyle Dando (06:30):
That sounds incredibly useful Jose.
How easy is it for developers to accessthis feature using the Memory Inspector?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (06:39):
Well, it's super simple, really.
Once the debug session starts,developers can right click on a
variable or a value and simplyselect " Show in Memory Inspector".
And from there they can dive into atool and start customizing their views.
And it's all very well documentedin the VS Code extension wiki.

Bridgette Stone (07:01):
Wow, that's an immensely powerful tool.
It's great to see how NXP is leveragingthe collaboration with other semiconductor
companies to bring these features to life.
So Jose, now let's talkabout improvements.
What's one notable improvement made to theVS Code extension since our last episode?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (07:19):
This easily has to be the return of an RTOS Thread view.
NXP made the decision to remove supportfor the prior RTOS tool after a lack
of improvements by the maintainer.
The customer feedback was clearand NXP needed to restore the
ability for customers to view RTOSactivity within their projects.

Bridgette Stone (07:41):
How did developers cope without this tool?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (07:45):
Well, people were able to add other tools themselves to
gain access, but NXP worked to providewhat is now the RTOS Details view.
And this allows NXP to maintainand improve the tool as
customers provide feedback.
And the tool is based off thepopular Cortex-Debug extension.

(08:08):
While this tool is very popular,NXP has taken the code base and it's
now working to provide the supportfor NXP devices and applications.

Bridgette Stone (08:20):
So what exactly does this tool show?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (08:22):
Well first it helps users view created tasks.
The RTOS allows software to havemultiple tasks running in a project.
The RTOS basically schedules those tasks.
And the RTOS Details view showsthe Task Handle, the State, the
Priority, the Stack Usage, and so on.

(08:44):
What the tool does, it basicallycreates a snapshot of how the RTOS
is handling the different tasks.
Lastly, Zephyr and FreeRTOS both havea few differences, but ultimately the
user wants the ability to troubleshoota project that has multiple tasks.

(09:05):
Using the Call Stack and the RTOSDetails view helps them gain more
insight into what is really happening.

Kyle Dando (09:14):
Okay, Jose.
One more feature that I wantyou to share with the listeners.
It's my favorite tool when troubleshootinga project, and that's the Peripheral View.
Can you give a quick overview of what thePeripheral View provides to the customers?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (09:28):
You know, I, I really like that view as
well and the Peripheral View.
It's a great tool to help developers diveinto the thousands of device registers.
Well, not thousands, butyou get the message here.
It uses the SVD file to organizethe register to memory associations.

(09:50):
The developer can search into the tool fora register from the datasheet, inspect
values, and compare with what they expect.
Next, they also have write access.
Which allows the user to basicallymodify the register values, and
then start the debug session.

(10:11):
This basically gives themabsolute register control.
This is something that's quiteuseful to verify if the device
or peripheral acts as expected.
I have used this to monitortoggling inputs and drive LEDs.
Just a useful tool when trying toconfigure such a complex device .And

(10:34):
in the end, the lessons learnedfrom using the Peripherals View
can help optimize the setup andconfiguration software of a project.

Bridgette Stone (10:44):
Okay.
Jose, we're we're hereto the last question.
You are very well versedin our VS Code extension.
However, most of our listeners ordevelopers need a little more support.
Where do you suggest they goto learn more about the debug
features offered in this extension?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (10:59):
I'm so glad you reminded me.
We actually work hard todocument the different features
and tools in the extension.
And a link to the documentation isincluded in the VS Code Quick start menu,
but it is super easy to find in Google ifyou just type in MCUXpresso VS Code wiki.

(11:22):
It should take thelistener directly there.

Bridgette Stone (11:26):
Hey, Mr. Dando, can you make sure to add that to the episode
notes and make it easy on our listeners?

Kyle Dando (11:31):
Sure thing, Bridgette.
I'm on it.

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (11:33):
Great.
I, I think the users willappreciate this section in the
wiki titled, , Flash and Debug.
, The debug section actually hasa list of 23 different topics.
Some I introduced here and others theymay want to better understand by reading
and going through the list themselves.
There are also reference guides forspecific hardware that they can follow.

(11:56):
They have sections that walk usersthrough the debug process for
different projects and devices as well.

Kyle Dando (12:03):
All right, so let's wrap things up.
Uh, we've covered a ton ofamazing debug features in the
MCUXpresso extension for VS Code.
From the Memory Inspectorto the RTOS Views.
Plus a bunch of other tools thatare going to make the developer's
lives a whole lot easier.

Bridgette Stone (12:20):
That we have Kyle.
Jose, thank you so much for joining ustoday and sharing all these insights.
We know our listeners are going to benefitfrom the updates that you've shared.
Any final thoughts or anything elseyou'd like to add before we sign off?

Jose Ocampo Hernandez (12:33):
Thanks Bridgette, and Kyle for having me.
It's been a pleasure to finallybe on the EdgeVerse Techcast,
you know, I've been a fan.
I've been quite jealous that, youknow, I haven't been invited until now.
But I'm glad to be here.
I just want to really encouragedevelopers to dive into the
MCUXpresso Extension for VS Codeand explore these tools themselves.

(12:57):
And remember, the more feedbackwe get, the better we can make
these tools for the community.
And also don't hesitate to reachout with questions or suggestions.

Kyle Dando (13:08):
Well said Jose.
And thanks again for all your greatinsights today and for all the
great work you're doing on VS Code.
We really do appreciateyou taking the time today.

Bridgette Stone (13:17):
Yes, thanks Jose.
And to our listeners, if you enjoyedthis conversation, don't forget to Like,
Subscribe and turn on Notificationsso you never miss an episode.
And if there's any topic you'dlike us to cover drop us a line.
We'd love to hear from you.

Kyle Dando (13:31):
And until next time, keep innovating and we'll catch
you on the next EdgeVerse Techcast.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

True Crime Tonight

True Crime Tonight

If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.