Embedded software developers today are a bit spoiled. Many microcontrollers come with an ecosystem that includes peripheral drivers, an RTOS, middleware and even example application code. Many developers can spend most of their time in high-level application code, ignoring the software that meets the hardware. The problem is that while this prebuilt ecosystem can accelerate … Continue reading 3 Tips for Speeding Up Interrupt Handlers
Category: Tips and Tricks
Tips, Tricks and Best Practices, so What’s the Deal?
The advancements in chip, sensor and wireless technologies over the past decade have resulted in exponential increases in system complexity that create unique challenges for development teams. While systems today are more feature rich, teams struggle to deliver quality solutions that easily scale, can be delivered on-time and within budget. This is where tips, tricks … Continue reading Tips, Tricks and Best Practices, so What’s the Deal?
Finding a Buffer Overflow issue using a Map File
Buffer overflows are one of those bugs that wreak havoc on embedded software. The system appears to be working perfectly and then all of a sudden, weird things start to happen! Variables that have been behaving suddenly end up with values that are unexpected. Developers often will be stumped and spend days trying to figure … Continue reading Finding a Buffer Overflow issue using a Map File
3 Explicit Programming Tips C Developers Should Follow
You know what they say when you ASSUME, you make an ASS out of U and ME. That’s exactly what developers are doing when they implicitly write their code and ASSUME that other developers can read minds across space and time. Embedded systems developers should be as Explicit as possible in order to avoid ASSUME … Continue reading 3 Explicit Programming Tips C Developers Should Follow
Simulating Your Way to Embedded Software Success
As an embedded software engineer, it’s really easy to think that all the software for the product is reliant upon the hardware. Most embedded developers that I encounter want to get a development board right out of the gate and start writing software, including myself most of the time. It’s not necessarily wrong, it’s just … Continue reading Simulating Your Way to Embedded Software Success
Jacob’s Most Popular Blogs (circa 2021)
I thought it would be interesting to kick-off the year with a look at some of the most popular blogs on my website ( does not include DesignNews or other sites I blog for) that predate 2021. Obviously, the older content will have more views so it’s a light look at the past, but giving … Continue reading Jacob’s Most Popular Blogs (circa 2021)
How to Organize a Firmware Project
There are many benefits to having a software project that is organized. First, it makes it easy to find modules and files when you them rather than wasting time hunting around things. Second, an organized project can help with project scalability by not requiring constant adjustments to a project make file or project properties. Third, … Continue reading How to Organize a Firmware Project
3 Common Challenges Facing RTOS Application Developers
Real-time operating systems (RTOS) are now included in many embedded applications. They can dramatically simplify time and task management in a system and help improve scalability and maintainability (if the application is designed correctly). I’ve found though that there are several common challenges that face RTOS application developers. Let’s examine these challenges and discuss a … Continue reading 3 Common Challenges Facing RTOS Application Developers
7 Tips for Mastering Git
One thing that every embedded software developer, and hopefully every general software developer has in common is that they use a revision control system to manage their software. There are different revision control systems out there, but the most popular system today is Git. If you have never used a revision control system or are … Continue reading 7 Tips for Mastering Git
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