Embedded Software Blog

Posts tagged with 'Debugging'

The invisible RTOS continued

Posted Dec 19, 2011, by Colin Walls

Last week I wrote about a test harness for applications using an RTOS. The idea was to have a library of functions corresponding to the API calls of a particular RTOS. Specific tasks of an application, that are under test, would be linked to this library to enable the code to be executed on a desktop computer in a useful way. I had some feedback on this posting from a couple of people, talking about … Read More

Tags: Debugging, API, RTOS, test harness, Nucleus

The invisible RTOS

Posted Dec 12, 2011, by Colin Walls

I was talking about OS-aware debuggers and someone asked me whether I could suggest a technique for unit testing of code for a multi-threaded application. It took me a while before I could fully understand what they were after, but it did become clear eventually. They were considering an environment where a number of engineers were working on an embedded application [using Nucleus]. Each guy was developing … Read More

Tags: Nucleus, test harness, Debugging, RTOS, API

Who needs a debugger anyway?

Posted Nov 7, 2011, by Colin Walls

If you met someone in a bar, say, and you got talking, they are likely to ask what you do. You will probably reply that you are an embedded software developer. [Actually, in my experience, this can be a bit of a conversation killer. You might be better saying you are an airline pilot or a brain surgeon.] If they carry on talking with you, they might ask you what that job entails and you would probably … Read More

Tags: Development Tools, Debugging, JTAG

Instrumentation

Posted Aug 22, 2011, by Colin Walls

Embedded software development tools are important to all developers and a topic that I frequently discuss [like here]. The way such tools are described by vendors is interesting. For example, there might be a reference to an “optimizing compiler”. That is rather meaningless, as all compilers are optimizing to at least some degree. For an embedded compiler, the important factors are the quality … Read More

Tags: RTOS, Development Tools, Debugging, Optimization, profiling, Nucleus