One interesting fact that I’ve noticed about embedded software development is that development processes and techniques tend to lag the general software industry. When I first started to write embedded software back in the late 1990’s, the focus seemed to be on moving away from writing assembly language and adopting C along with the best … Continue reading Developing an Embedded Software Build Pipeline
Category: Embedded Basics
5 Roles for Python in Real-time Embedded Systems
Python has become quite the trending program language over the last few years. Named after the famous Monty Python comedy group, the language is object oriented and interpreted (not compiled) which has resulted in it being adopted on many platforms such as Linux, Windows, and on single board computers such as the Raspberry Pi. With … Continue reading 5 Roles for Python in Real-time Embedded Systems
7 Sections Every Company Coding Standard Should Include
Developing a company coding standard is absolutely critical to ensuring that every embedded developer is on the same page. A coding standard tells a developer many of the do’s and don’ts that they need in order to write legible, reviewable software that achieves the businesses desired quality level with the least number of defects possible. … Continue reading 7 Sections Every Company Coding Standard Should Include
Getting Started with JSON for Embedded Developers
For decades embedded software developers worked on products that were stand-alone and did not require any internet access. Over the past decade or so, the number of products that are connected to the internet has grown exponentially and with it, embedded developers have been forced to learn the underlying technologies required to communicate in a … Continue reading Getting Started with JSON for Embedded Developers
10 Pain-free Steps to Configure an Interrupt Controller
Properly setting up interrupts on a microcontroller isn’t easy. The number of times an engineer has setup interrupts in their career doesn’t seem to make a difference. Configuring interrupts always has some gotcha hidden away that leaves the developer scratching their head and seeking answers in an obscure data sheet or online code snippet. Thankfully … Continue reading 10 Pain-free Steps to Configure an Interrupt Controller
7 Tips for Creating a Reliable Embedded System
Despite the hopes and dreams of many embedded engineers, reliable code doesn’t happen by accident. It is a painstaking process that requires developers to maintain and manage every bit and byte of the system. There is usually a sigh of relief when an application is validated “successfully” but just because the software is running correctly … Continue reading 7 Tips for Creating a Reliable Embedded System
The Hardware Abstraction Layer Design Process
Using a HAL is a great way to develop software that can be easily reused and ported from one application and platform to the next. Why would a developer want to do such a thing? For starters, reinventing the wheel over and over again gets pretty boring. I believe most developers want to be working … Continue reading The Hardware Abstraction Layer Design Process
10 Tricks for Documenting Embedded Software
There are few things more challenging in software development than acquiring a code base with little to no documentation and being required to maintain it. Documentation doesn’t just tell an engineer what a particular function or variable does but it also demonstrates and conveys why the software was implemented in a particular fashion. There are … Continue reading 10 Tricks for Documenting Embedded Software
7 Tips for Developing Great API’s
Embedded software developers have grown used to working at the lowest, nitty gritty hardware level within a microcontroller based system. Twiddling and manipulating bits and bytes is what embedded software developers were born to do. The embedded software industry is changing and that change is requiring developers to start working at higher levels of abstraction … Continue reading 7 Tips for Developing Great API’s
3 Ways to Perform a Worst-Case Stack Analysis
Figuring out how to size the stack for an embedded application and the tasks within it can be challenging. In many cases, developers will pick a value that they feel should be enough. These estimates are sometimes a little short, most of the time a gross estimation and rarely spot on. While I always encourage … Continue reading 3 Ways to Perform a Worst-Case Stack Analysis