Re: Self restarting property of RTOS-How it works?

From: Ed Beroset (beroset_at_mindspring.com)
Date: 02/12/05 

Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 15:44:26 GMT

Del Cecchi wrote:
> Ed Beroset wrote:
>
>> I have also noticed that the programmers from a computer science
>> background tend to be much better at working out a system architecture
>> and planning first.
[...]
>>
> Those comp-sci geniuses are the ones that gave us a software paradigm
> that is susceptible to attacks as simple as buffer overruns, and store
> data in randomly scattered chunks linked by pointers. And put multiple
> unrelated locks in the same cache line? That the ones you are talking
> about?

It's interesting to learn that no engineers were ever involved in
building such flaws.

My background happens to be more in the engineering than the computer
science end of things, but I don't share your evident contempt for the
field. Here's an example: An embedded communication system receives
packet-based messages of varying lengths at an average rate of 100
packets per minute, but asynchronously. Because the system also checks
its timing against the recovered clock from the messages, which it can
easily keep synchronized within limits as long as it doesn't go too long
without receiving a packet. What is the probability that no packets
will arrive in an interval of five seconds?

I can answer that question easily because I've studied a little computer
science. Can you? If not, how can you properly engineer the system?

Ed