Re: careers in embedded engineering


"larwe" <zwsdotcom@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1144855830.999861.278790@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Steve at fivetrees wrote:

Also agreed. Furthermore, my experience has been that PC programmers have
far less of a clue about the rigours of true embedded design, which
includes

God, yes. From section 4-1, in chapter 4 ("Teaching Yourself, Top-Down
(Large Embedded Systems)"):

"The previous chapter dealt with people who have hardware experience
and want to start learning about microcontroller programming, or a
"bottom-up" approach to embedded engineering. At the other end of the
spectrum, we find people who have considerable experience programming
application software in high-level languages, and who now want to
extend their reach into embedded systems. These people will typically
have what I would describe as "IT" qualifications (database
programming, HTML design, Java development and so forth), rather than
engineering experience. Computer science majors quite frequently fall
into this category.

[rest of interesting quote snipped

Larwe,

Thanks, nice quote. I generally agree but before we engage in too much self
gratulation I'd like to add that:

a) Good CS programs do teach about wise resource usage, just maybe in terms
that are too abstract
b) The distinction between embedded and "other", while never very crisp, is
quickly disappearing completely. Anyone entering the embedded arena would be
well advised to know basic software engineering skills and high-level SW
development skills on top of being able to write a working interrupt
handler.
c) Really competent embedded engineers can write efficient, beautiful C++
programs that run on an 8051, heh, heh.

Andrew


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