The invention relates to an application and a method for allowing the development or adaptation of an application for implementation in an embedded processing system. The apparatus and method includes the use of a programmer interface to allow the input of instructions and the development and/or adaptation of the application and to allow the use of one or more development and/or diagnostic tools via the programmer interface and the embedded system in which the application is to be implemented. A server is provided which allows communication between the said application and the embedded system during the development and/or adaptation of the application so as to allow a greater variety of user interaction and development and diagnostic tools to be available for use.