Blog - Page 35 of 36 - Embedded Artistry

19 October 20161 December 2023

git cherry-pick recommendations

If you’re planning to cherry-pick commits between branches, I recommend that you always use the -xflag when cherry picking: ""Quote -x When recording the commit, append a line that says “(cherry picked from commit …)”to the original commit message in order to indicate which commit this change was cherry-picked from. This is done only for cherry …

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18 October 201615 August 2023

ARM Interrupt Vector Addresses

I frequently need to look up the ARM interrupt address vectors when debugging. Here's a handy table for a quick reference.

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28 September 201614 December 2021

cdecl

If you ever have trouble remembering how to declare things in C (like those pesky function pointers), try out cdecl: brew install cdecl apt install cdecl Simply specify in English what you want to declare, and cdecl will show you the way: declare memcpy as volatile pointer to function(int) returning void void (* volatile memcpy)(int …

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21 September 201615 August 2023

Debugging Strategy: Finding Version from a Memory Dump

Have you ever had a device that's in a weird state, and you're curious what version of software is on it so you can load the correct debug symbols? Here's a strategy for figuring that out: Connect to device over JTAG when it's in the desired state Use your JTAG tool to dump the contents …

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26 July 201621 April 2020

Shipping Mindset

I keep a compilation of book notes and try to review them to keep the books and lessons fresh in my mind. I came across a few Steven Pressfield quotes regarding "shipping". This mindset is important when building embedded systems - if you don't ship, you have built nothing. Why does Seth Godin place so …

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25 July 201614 December 2021

cscope

When you're working on a large software project, it's extremely difficult to keep all the bits and pieces in your head. cscope is designed to help eliminate all your needless searching through files, enabling you to quickly search for: all references to a symbol global definitions functions called by a function functions calling a function …

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22 July 201610 June 2021

Embedded C++: What’s the value?

It's not uncommon to hear this statement: "C++ just doesn't work well for embedded systems." Often, there will be vague, sweeping reasons such as: C code is going to be smaller than C++! C++ is totally going to blow up your stack / heap allocations! C++ is a powerful tool - and you have to …

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12 July 201621 April 2020

Blanket Advice is Rarely Useful for Embedded Systems

When I'm searching for embedded systems information, it's amazing how much blanket advice I encounter - often just repeating truths from previous generations or providing advice without considering design constraints. It's important to remember how diverse embedded systems can be. You might be developing for an 8-bit microcontroller with only 4KB ROM and 1KB RAM. …

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11 July 201615 August 2023

Save State Often

Developers: save state every chance you get! It blows my mind that it still needs to be said, but I was prompted after hearing this: "We never got around to properly using source control, we just didn't have the time." Unfortunately, this situation is far too common among developers, especially those moving at a fast …

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8 July 201621 April 2020

The Glossary

The firmware, hardware, and manufacturing worlds involve an immense amount of jargon - for the uninitiated, listening to a conversation can sound like a crazy waterfall of alphabet soup and nonsense words. I have decided to keep a living glossary to make things more accessible for new comers. I'll also add links so those who …

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