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Firmware Update
- January 24, 2012
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in this issue
-- Combining C's volatile and const Keywords
-- Netrino's Annual Consultants Survey
-- Register Early for a 2012 Boot Camp and Save
-- Most Popular Embedded Gurus Blog Posts of 2011 -- Industry News You Can Use
Firmware Update is a free newsletter by embedded software expert Michael Barr. It is Copyright 2012 by Netrino, LLC, but may be reprinted for non-commercial purposes. Please forward it to colleagues who may benefit from the information. |
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Combining C's volatile and const Keywords ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the most consistently popular articles on the Netrino website is about C's volatile keyword. The volatile keyword is a special type of keyword called a decorator. C's only other decorator keyword is const. These keywords can be used individually in variable declarations.
But does it ever make sense to declare a variable in C or C++ as both volatile (i.e., "ever-changing") and const ("read-only")? If so, when and why? And how should you combine the two keywords for the proper effect? |
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Netrino's Annual Consultants Survey ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We're looking for a few good embedded systems design consultants... to take our annual survey.
If you are a full-time or part-time consultant or run a consulting firm that does mechanical, electrical, and/or software engineering on a contract basis we'd like to hear from you. There are just 8 questions and the whole survey should take less than five minutes to complete. (And if you choose to leave your e-mail address, we'll happily share our findings with you.) |
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Register Early for a 2012 Boot Camp and Save ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Netrino's popular Embedded Software Boot Camp is a hands-on, week-long training program specifically designed to raise the skill of embedded software developers and teams. Regardless of years of experience in firmware, everyone who attends leaves a Master Firmware Engineer, ready to tackle challenging device driver and real-time programming projects more competently and efficiently--with or without an RTOS.
Netrino has a public session planned for May and is currently offering substantial discounts for early registration. Don't miss out on this chance to upgrade your knowledge and skills while also saving money. |
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Most Popular Embedded Gurus Blog Posts of 2011 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The beginning of a new year is always a great time to look back. Looking back on 2011, the Embedded Gurus found that our collective blog posts on Efficient C, Look Up Tables, Unintended Acceleration, and Dangerous Coding Rules were among the most popular reads.
Having done a similar retrospective traffic analysis for three years now (see 2009 and 2010), I can tell you that these most popular articles are often also the most practical and educational and of real lasting informational value. |
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Industry News You Can Use ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5 Tips to Avoid EEPROM Corruption Problems http://bit.ly/tPSQoH
RT @mfeathers If you don't understand code it doesn't mean you are stupid, it means the code is stupid. #embedsys Memristor is a term you may never have heard before but it is likely to be a game changer in embedded systems. http://lnkd.in/qucv-q If you like MCUs and want to get paid blogging about your experiences, projects and observations, email patrick.mannion@ubm.com. Super cool new book from @oreillymedia: Make a Mind-Controlled Arduino Robot http://oreil.ly/xWRcNj Nomura says ARM's biggest customer is...wait for it...Intel! Weigh in at http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4234459/ARM-customers "No flying cars yet?", he wrote from a 2 inch by 4 inch pocket computer instantaneously to subscribers worldwide using only his right thumb. Should you use a CRC or Checksum? http://bit.ly/t08CDK CRC Polynomial Selection for Embedded Networks http://bit.ly/tvE84d Richard Feyman on keeping bugs out of 250,000 lines of software embedded in the Space Shuttles. http://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v2appf.htm When programmers get along they pair program. When they don't they do peer review. |
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Quick Links ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
mbarr@netrino.com
phone:
866.78.EMBED
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