A common question that I often receive is “What McCabe Cyclomatic Complexity tools should I use?” Now this is always a partially loaded question because while there are quite a few out there that I really like, most developers are really asking what free tools I can recommend to them. One of my favorite ones … Continue reading Cyclomatic Complexity Measurements with pmccabe
Category: Embedded Basics
5 Best Practices for Utilizing Open Source Software
Open source software is everywhere and has the potential to help businesses accelerate development and improve their software quality. Achieving these results though can be challenging if care is not taken. Here are five best practices for utilizing open source software that will help leverage open source software successfully. Best Practice #1 – Use an … Continue reading 5 Best Practices for Utilizing Open Source Software
Is the war between C and C++ Over?
Back when I was an engineering student and a budding young engineer, it wasn’t unusual to open (yes physically open) the latest edition of embedded systems magazine and find articles that were contributing to the raging war between C and C++. Each side would present their cases as to why one language was better than … Continue reading Is the war between C and C++ Over?
4 Uses for Assembly Language
An embedded tip that I often advocate is that developers should avoid using assembly language. The reason for avoiding assembly language is that it is specific to the processor architecture being used, it is difficult to read, understand and maintain. Today, we are going to look at the few areas where I believe it is … Continue reading 4 Uses for Assembly Language
A Microchip PIC16F84 LED Sequencer – Part 1
With the start of a new decade, a pandemic where we are on lock-down and the arrival spring, it was a perfect time to go through the office and reorganize. While I was sorting and organizing, I came across an old LED Sequencer that I had built back when I was 17 years old which … Continue reading A Microchip PIC16F84 LED Sequencer – Part 1
Using Callbacks with Interrupts
On a weekly basis, I receive a fair number of emails with questions about how to design embedded systems. One question that seems to be asked more frequently than others is how to write a configurable driver that uses callbacks with interrupts. If a developer is writing a driver that will be reused in multiple … Continue reading Using Callbacks with Interrupts
5 Techniques to Delay Code Execution
An interesting problem that often comes up in embedded software implementation is figuring out how to delay code execution. Sometimes a developer might just want there to be a 10-microsecond delay to allow an I/O line to stabilize before reading it or may want a specified time period between reads to debounce it. In this … Continue reading 5 Techniques to Delay Code Execution
5 Tips for Designing a Smart Watchdog
Recovering from a system failure or a software glitch can be no easy task. The longer the fault occurs the harder it can be to identify and recover. The use of an external watchdog is an important and critical tool in the embedded systems engineer toolbox. There are five tips that should be taken into … Continue reading 5 Tips for Designing a Smart Watchdog
7 Steps to Create a Reusable Debounce Algorithm
A quick google search reveals that there are over 212,000 websites that examine how to debounce a button. After examining a number of them it is obvious that these implementations are not meant for reuse. The implementations and strategies often lack scalability, the ability to debounce multiple buttons easily and portability. They are tightly coupled … Continue reading 7 Steps to Create a Reusable Debounce Algorithm
3 Painless Tips for Writing Documentation
Writing documentation is not the most exciting endeavor an engineer can embark on. It’s often boring, time consuming, and there are so many more interesting things that could be done. It sometimes amazes me how poorly development projects are documented if they are even documented at all. Documentation is meant to help preserve important concepts … Continue reading 3 Painless Tips for Writing Documentation