Hands-On RTOS with Microcontrollers

File types used in the examples

There are several file types used when programming and debugging embedded systems. These files are common across many different processors and software products and not exclusive to Cortex-M MCUs or the software used in this book.

Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) files are an executable format that has the ability to store more than the straight *.bin or *.hex files commonly flashed directly into an MCU's ROM. The *.elf files are similar to the *.hex files in that they contain all of the binary machine code necessary to load a fully functional project onto a target MCU. The *.elf files also contain links to the original source code filenames and line numbers. Software such as Ozone uses these links to display ...