You're receiving this e-mail as a friend, client, or business associate of Netrino, LLC. Please confirm your interest in receiving this newsletter.
 
You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Firmware Update - August 10, 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this issue:
-- Real Men Program in C
-- Fall 2009 Embedded Software Boot Camps
-- Test Your Embedded C++ Skills
-- ESC Boston
-- Embedded Systems News

Firmware Update is a free electronic newsletter containing analysis, insight, and commentary on firmware architecture and process by embedded software expert Michael Barr. Firmware Update is Copyright 2009 by Netrino, LLC, but may be reprinted or forwarded for interested colleagues.


Real Men Program in C
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A couple of months ago, I ate a pleasant lunch with a pair of young entrepreneurs in Baltimore. Their firm specializes in writing software for web-centric databases in a language called Ruby on Rails. As we discussed many of the similarities and a few of the differences in our respective businesses, one of the young men made a comment I won't soon forget, "Real men program in C."

For today's computer science students, learning C is like taking an elective class in Latin. But C is anything but history and not at all a dead language. And C remains the dominant language in the fast growing field of embedded software development.

Read on...


Fall 2009 Embedded Software Boot Camps
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Embedded Software Boot Camp is a one- week skills strengthening program consisting of a series of lectures and hands-on exercises. This engaging educational program quickly and dramatically raises the embedded and multithreaded programming skills of individuals and teams. Hundreds of engineers ranging from 0 to 15 years of embedded software experience and from EE, CS, and other backgrounds have already benefited from this popular training.

I'll be leading a pair of Embedded Software Boot Camps this fall. First in Silicon Valley from October 5-9, 2009. Then in Maryland from November 16-20, 2009. Join me to deepen your knowledge and strengthen your programming skills or make the leap to embedded software development.

Day-by-day outlines and other details...


Test Your Embedded C++ Skills
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the past 18 months, almost five thousand embedded software engineers have tested their embedded C programming skills by taking the free quiz at Netrino's website. Thus it is with great delight that I announce a new Embedded C++ Quiz. Like the C quiz, it's a quick ten questions and as educational as it is fun.

If you score at least an 80% on our quiz, your name will be automatically entered into a drawing to win a free seat at a future Embedded Software Boot Camp.

Take the C++ quiz...


ESC Boston
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll be speaking at the Embedded Systems Conference, in Boston, on September 21-23, 2009. Subjects include "RTOS Myths" and "Bad Code" (both free in the ESC Theater), as well as "Task Prioritization" and "RTOS Alternatives". This time I'll also be teaching a hands-on version of the popular full-day tutorial "Hardware Interfacing in C," with exercise on an ARM development board.

If you will be at the conference, please let me know so we can plan to connect.

Check course descriptions, dates and times...


Embedded Systems News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Might Air France 447 be a disaster caused by faulty embedded software? http://bit.ly/6Oe0e

"Errors in velocity calculations" a known, recurring A330 problem http://bit.ly/iT3Lh

Embedded systems "are supposed to make [D.C. Metro] crash impossible" http://twitpic.com/86ge0

I blogged about similarities in fatal Air France 447 and D.C. Metro red line crashes http://bit.ly/Cjd9U

Intel buys Wind River for $884m; targets software for embedded devices http://tinyurl.com/poguuf

Embedded Internet - 15 billion intelligent, connected devices - Intel http://bit.ly/18obyI

"There is evidence that there is no relationship between following development processes and software quality" http://bit.ly/QqCGr

What is the most often-overlooked risk in software engineering? Incompetent programmers - David Parnas http://bit.ly/tFvEm

EE Times team did an amazing job dissecting the iPhone 3GS http://bit.ly/1bDj0s

There was some interesting data about FPGA to emerge from Embedded Systems Design magazine's 2009 Embedded Market Study http://bit.ly/bucH

2 of 3 poll participants at Embedded.com were born after the Moon Landing http://bit.ly/4EXH3T

VDC Research is conducting its annual survey of embedded engineers; would like to hear from embedded systems designers http://bit.ly/UxiTR

Check out Micrium's snazzy new website http://www.micrium.com

Adapted from my twitter feed...


Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  • Embedded C Coding Standard
  • Embedded Bloggers
  • Netrino Institute Training Calendar
  • Embedded Systems Glossary


  • Contact Us...
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    phone: 866.78.EMBED
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Email Marketing by