The Art of Designing Embedded Systems

by Jack G. Ganssle

Book Overview

Art of Designing Embedded Systems is apart primer and part reference, aimed at practicing embedded engineers, whether working on the code or the hardware design. Embedded systems suffer from a chaotic, ad hoc development process. This books lays out a very simple seven-step plan to get firmware development under control. There are no formal methodologies to master; the ideas are immediately useful. Most designers are unaware that code complexity grows...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0750698691
• ISBN13: 9780750698696
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Newnes
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Very good.. but not for beginners

This is a very good book... but it is meant for people with experience in the industry.... the book is about industry and the dynamics within it...not for "student" who are just in college/univ.excelent book once you've had at least 6 months industry experience

Heartily recommend to folks starting in embedded systems

This is a great book for folks who are starting out in embedded systems - a solid overview with practical advice that can be applied throughout one's career. Jack Ganssle also writes for Embedded Systems Programming mag, providing a lot of useful info in an entertaining and lively manner. Good technical writing is tough to come across - he does a wonderful job.

Good Experience From One Who Has Been There

In Mr. Ganssle's book he states, "Engineers are notoriously poor communicators..." and some of that truth shows in his book. The chapters, sections, and appendices are well organized but the content in them is not. The writing style has a tendency to ramble like a friendly conversation, sometimes deviating into tangential material. However, the experience and wisdom held in the book's content (even the tangential parts) are its greatest prize. As an embedded developer with seven years of experience, I found myself frequently relating to the author's own experience. When I read the sentence, "We've got to avoid quoting a long, arbitrary time impact as a knee-jerk reaction to any change request." I actually laughed out loud. Mr. Ganssle does a good job of contrasting a disciplined, well-documented development process versus a panicked, haphazard one and he explains the trade-offs between the two by quoting respectable studies on the subject. The material on writing and debugging good embedded code is all stuff that most folks will, hopefully, learn after few years on the job. But, if you're just starting out, or if you're looking for a better way to do your job, I recommend that you read this book.

Embedded Systems Guru Knowledge Base

This text is obviously a distillation of many years of experience in the field. I have programmed enough ISR's and programmable devices to know that it is very good advise indeed. The book, however, is not for the beginner. His assumed audience are people who are already in the field and would like to take advantage someone with greater experience. The book is loaded with hard learned nuggets of wisdom that are less likely to be found in classroom textbooks. He has something to offer both software and hardware types(I'm software). For example, the advise about software partitioning, ISR development and debugging, and device programming is excellent, and for hardware types the advise on building boards that are both software and hardware debuggable and the myriad tips on finding problems from the common to the obscure will be appreciated. He also provides suggested project management guidelines that help in getting functionality operating as quickly as possible, and, from my point of view, guidance on how to deal with irrational schedules and managements that are reluctant to provide adequate project resources. I appreciated expecially his citing research that quiet private offices provide the single greatest boost to engineering productivity. Probably the only thing I found lacking in the book was a Bibliography of other book references and useful web links.

Great Design Tips

There are many embedded books that will take you real deep and never let you come up for air - this one helps you stay afloat (and awake). Yes, the book organization may not seem to be in perfect order - I have only found a few that were. But, the main difference that sets this book apart is the insight to problems in designing a system - especially the bug's that might creep up later in software. Here, the author gives his experience on how to design embedded systems not build them (there is a difference). Practical advice is presented that may save time, your system, and headaches.