Programming Embedded Systems: With C and GNU Development Tools, 2nd Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Presents a good introduction to embedded system programming; no complaints there. However, their choice of development kit is poor. The Arcom (now EuroTech) kit is $600, rather than the $300 stated in the book. And it took almost 3 weeks for them to respond to a quote request. Fortunately, there are kits available from other vendors (BiPom, Olimex, etc.) which can be substituted for less than $300. However, the impracticality of using the Arcom kit robs the book of its purpose of being a hands-on, guided tutorial.

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If you have programming experience and a familiarity with C--the dominant language in embedded systems--Programming Embedded Systems, Second Edition is exactly what you need to get started with embedded software. This software is ubiquitous, hidden away inside our watches, DVD players, mobile phones, anti-lock brakes, and even a few toasters. The military uses embedded software to guide missiles, detect enemy aircraft, and pilot UAVs. Communication satellites, deep-space probes, and many medical instruments would have been nearly impossible to create without embedded software.

The first edition of Programming Embedded Systems taught the subject to tens of thousands of people around the world and is now considered the bible of embedded programming. This second edition has been updated to cover all the latest hardware designs and development methodologies.

The techniques and code examples presented here are directly applicable to real-world embedded software projects of all sorts. Examples use the free GNU software programming tools, the eCos and Linux operating systems, and a low-cost hardware platform specially developed for this book. If you obtain these tools along with Programming Embedded Systems, Second Edition, you'll have a full environment for exploring embedded systems in depth. But even if you work with different hardware and software, the principles covered in this book apply.

Whether you are new to embedded systems or have done embedded work before, you'll benefit from the topics in this book, which include:

How building and loading programs differ from desktop or server computers
Basic debugging techniques--a critical skill when working with minimally endowed embedded systems
Handling different types of memory
Interrupts, and the monitoring and control of on-chip and external peripherals
Determining whether you have real-time requirements, and whether your operating system and application can meet those requirements
Task synchronization with real-time operating systems and embedded Linux
Optimizing embedded software for size, speed, and power consumption
Working examples for eCos and embedded Linux

So whether you're writing your first embedded program, designing the latest generation of hand-held whatchamacalits, or managing the people who do, this book is for you. Programming Embedded Systems will help you develop the knowledge and skills you need to achieve proficiency with embedded software.

Praise for the first edition:
"This lively and readable book is the perfect introduction for those venturing into embedded systems software development for the first time. It provides in one place all the important topics necessary to orient programmers to the embedded development process. --Lindsey Vereen, Editor-in-Chief, Embedded Systems Programming

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The IC Bus: From Theory to Practice Review

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(More customer reviews)Regretfully, I have to say that "The I2C Bus from Theory to Practice" book is a bit of a disappointment for me. I've been reading these past 2 months the Philip's I2C related documents in PDF format, which I downloaded from the Internet. It seemed to me at the time that apart from the description of the protocol, there are some notes and maybe "hidden" facts, which are not described in the formal description of the protocol and so, I started to look for a book on the subject. Luckily I found one book (the only book) and hoped that it would elaborate on the I2C subject. I discovered that indeed this book justified its title and gave the required theory description, and practical examples as promised. But the theory is mostly copied/pasted out of the Philip's I2C bus protocol description with some additional notes added to it, and the overall description is nicely divided into chapters and chapter-parts which is maybe more readable for the 1'st time reader. As for the I2C practice, or practical information, again I was disappointed to find that some parts of the Philip's PDF's were inserted again ( as the PCF8584) which is almost fully described in the book. I think it would have been more appropriate to point out pointers for these PDF's (although it was mentioned once in the book that some material is taken from these documents) on the Philip's Internet site. I think the authors meant to give some practical examples by that, but I felt that it was just for filling out some more pages on the book (like an LP record's last 3 or 4 song tracks.) The appendix of the book was very disappointing and I didn't understand why I need these "printed circuits" low quality prints at the end of the book (pages 287-294) or maybe it was just to fill some blanks. The SW examples given out with the floppy disk were not so well documented and also some of it was in French anyways. All in all, this book was not what I thought it would be and that is a shame because it is the only book, which I found on the I2C subject on the Web. Maybe the authors wrote most of the documents in the Philip's PDF's and wanted to publish it in hard copy... (see title of this letter.) But, if you did purchase this book, you can always put it on the bookshelf because it has a nice respectable hard cover.

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