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
Category: Software Techniques
5 Keys to Successfully Managing Legacy Code
I feel like there is always a big focus on developing new features, launching the next product or the next big thing, but once those things are successful there is an extraordinary challenge that teams face in managing their legacy code. Even the latest and greatest software at some point becomes legacy and it isn’t … Continue reading 5 Keys to Successfully Managing Legacy Code
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
Book Review: MicroPython Projects
MicroPython Projects is a book for embedded software developers who are interested in branching out and learning how to build systems using Python. The book starts with an exploration of why a developer may want to forgo using C/C++ and instead venture into using MicroPython. The book in general is a project based book that … Continue reading Book Review: MicroPython Projects
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
7 Steps to Create a Stack Monitor
One of the most painstaking bugs to hunt down in an embedded system is when the stack overflows its boundaries and starts to overwrite memory regions that are nearby. The symptoms of stack overflow usually appear randomly when just the perfect storm of interrupts and function calls are occurring which leads them to be difficult … Continue reading 7 Steps to Create a Stack Monitor
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 Advantages to using a Multicore Microcontroller
Several posts ago, I wrote about how two major trends for the 2020’s was going to be Python as a dominate language and machine learning at the edge. A third trend is that multicore microcontrollers are also going to dominate the industry. That’s right, while multicore has been a technology relegated to application processors and … Continue reading 3 Advantages to using a Multicore Microcontroller
5 Tips for Modernizing Legacy Code
It’s always exciting to start on a new development project, but some of the most interesting and challenging projects to work on in embedded systems can often be how to modernize a legacy code base. There are so many products that are currently on the market that have been in production for years if not … Continue reading 5 Tips for Modernizing Legacy Code