|
|
||||||||||||||
You may redistribute this newsletter for noncommercial purposes. For commercial use contact info@ganssle.com. To subscribe or unsubscribe go to http://www.ganssle.com/tem-subunsub.html or drop Jack an email. |
||||||||||||||
Contents | ||||||||||||||
Editor's Notes | ||||||||||||||
The average embedded software project devotes 50% of the schedule to debugging the code. It's stunning to realize that half of the project's time is wasted fixing mistakes. Perhaps the other half should be called "bugging." Unfortunately that debugging just doesn't work. Most organizations ship with about ten bugs per KLOC, two orders of magnitude worse than best-in-class outfits. A focus on fixing bugs will not lead to a quality product. How do you get projects done faster? Improve quality! Reduce bugs. This is the central observation of the quality movement. The result is a win-win-win: faster schedules, lower costs and higher quality. Firmware engineering, too, can - and must - profit from the same win-win-win. Learn how (and far more) at my Better Firmware Faster class, presented at your facility. See http://www.ganssle.com/onsite.htm. |
||||||||||||||
Quotes and Thoughts | ||||||||||||||
Engineering ... it is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege. Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States. |
||||||||||||||
Tools and Tips | ||||||||||||||
Please submit neat ideas or thoughts about tools, techniques and resources you love or hate. The number of suggestions for maintaining a knowledge base has been incredible and continues. Bob McConnell wrote this:
Reinhard Kopka added:
|
||||||||||||||
What I'm Reading | ||||||||||||||
Jim Turley is probably the best writer in the electronics industry. His latest on the problems with Java is interesting. A Decade of OS Access-control Extensibility - practical experience deploying security policies in several framework-based products. |
||||||||||||||
Analog Discovery Update | ||||||||||||||
In Muse 233 I reviewed Digilent's Analog Discovery, a digital scope, logic analyzer, pattern generator and twin waveform generators (AWG) all rolled into one. I wasn't too fond of the "probes," which are just wires from a connector. Now the company has released their Analog Discovery BNC Adaptor Board, which plugs onto the scope unit and provides BNCs for the two scope and two AWG channels. The following picture shows the board connected to the instrument; above are the pseudo-probes that come with the Analog Discovery. Blue jumpers select AC or DC coupling for the scope channels. Those on the AWGs configure 50 ohm outputs or a confusing 0 ohms (one thinks of a short to ground but this is the series resistance). In the following screen shot I've used the wire clip leads normally provided with the Analog Discovery to connect a waveform generator to a scope input. This is a 20 KHz square wave. In the next picture I removed the clip leads and installed the BNC adaptor board, and ran a coax from the waveform generator to the scope input. The signal looks a lot better. Notice the header on the right side of the BNC board? All of the instrument's signals, other than the scope and AWGs, go to that so you can access them using the standard leads. It's a nice touch. A bench scope will sense what kind of probe is detected and rescale the vertical axis so the user doesn't have to mentally compensate for a X1 or X10 probe. This board doesn't do that, which is unsurprising considering its price. The BNC board is a terrific boon for using conventional probes and at $15.99 is a bargain. |
||||||||||||||
Best C Book? | ||||||||||||||
Last issue a reader asked what is the best C book. Lots of people answered, and it's pretty clear that "C: A Reference Manual" is the most popular. Here are some responses: Larry Eaton wrote:
From Scott Whitney:
Michael Burr had several suggestions:
Phil Ouellette sent this:
Philippe Auphelle is another fan of Harbison & Steele:
Ray Keefe sent a long and interesting email about a number of subjects. As for books, here's his take:
Mark Peters wrote:
|
||||||||||||||
USB Instruments - Be Careful! | ||||||||||||||
Ray Keefe shares others' experience with blowing up USB instruments:
|
||||||||||||||
Jobs! | ||||||||||||||
Let me know if you’re hiring embedded engineers. No recruiters please, and I reserve the right to edit ads to fit the format and intents of this newsletter. Please keep it to 100 words. |
||||||||||||||
Joke For The Week | ||||||||||||||
Note: These jokes are archived at www.ganssle.com/jokes.htm. Fred Strathmann sent this: Three men: a project manager, a software engineer, and a hardware engineer are helping out on a project. About midweek they decide to walk up and down the beach during their lunch hour. Halfway up the beach, they stumbled upon a lamp. As they rub the lamp a genie appears and says "Normally I would grant you three wishes, but since there are three of you, I will grant you each one wish." |
||||||||||||||
Advertise With Us | ||||||||||||||
Advertise in The Embedded Muse! Over 23,000 embedded developers get this twice-monthly publication. For more information email us at info@ganssle.com. |
||||||||||||||
About The Embedded Muse | ||||||||||||||
The Embedded Muse is Jack Ganssle's newsletter. Send complaints, comments, and contributions to me at jack@ganssle.com. The Embedded Muse is supported by The Ganssle Group, whose mission is to help embedded folks get better products to market faster. We offer seminars at your site offering hard-hitting ideas - and action - you can take now to improve firmware quality and decrease development time. Contact us at info@ganssle.com for more information. |