1. Chapter 1 Introduction

   1. What Is an Embedded System?

   2. Variations on a Theme

   3. Embedded Design Examples

   4. Life As an Embedded Software Developer

   5. The C Language: The Lowest Common Denominator

   6. A Few Words About Hardware

2. Chapter 2 Getting to Know the Hardware

   1. Understanding the Big Picture

   2. Hardware Basics

   3. Examine the Landscape

   4. Learn How to Communicate

   5. Getting to Know the Processor

   6. Study the External Peripherals

   7. Initialize the Hardware

3. Chapter 3 Your First Embedded Program

   1. Hello, World!

   2. The Blinking LED Program

   3. The Role of the Infinite Loop

4. Chapter 4 Compiling, Linking, and Locating

   1. The Build Process

   2. Building the Blinking LED Program

   3. A Quick Look at Makefiles

5. Chapter 5 Downloading and Debugging

   1. Downloading the Blinking LED Program

   2. Remote Debuggers

   3. Emulators

   4. Other Useful Tools

   5. Dig into the Hardware

6. Chapter 6 Memory

   1. Types of Memory

   2. Direct Memory Access

   3. Endian Issues

   4. Memory Testing

   5. Validating Memory Contents

   6. Using Flash Memory

7. Chapter 7 Peripherals

   1. Control and Status Registers

   2. The Device Driver Philosophy

   3. Device Driver Design

8. Chapter 8 Interrupts

   1. Overview

   2. Interrupt Map

   3. Interrupt Service Routine

   4. The Improved Blinking LED Program

   5. Summary of Interrupt Issues

9. Chapter 9 Putting It All Together

   1. Application Overview

   2. Working with Serial Ports

   3. Command-Line Interface Processing

10. Chapter 10 Operating Systems

    1. History and Purpose

    2. The Scheduler

    3. Tasks

    4. Task Synchronization

    5. Message Passing

    6. Other Functionality

    7. Interrupt Handling

    8. Real-Time Characteristics

    9. To Use or Not to Use an RTOS

    10. Additional Resources

11. Chapter 11 eCos Examples

    1. Introduction

    2. Task Mechanics

    3. Mutex Task Synchronization

    4. Semaphore Task Synchronization

    5. Message Passing

    6. eCos Interrupt Handling

12. Chapter 12 Embedded Linux Examples

    1. Introduction

    2. Accessing Hardware in Linux

    3. Task Mechanics

    4. Mutex Task Synchronization

    5. Semaphore Task Synchronization

    6. Message Passing

13. Chapter 13 Extending Functionality

    1. Common Peripherals

    2. Networking for All Devices Great and Small

14. Chapter 14 Optimization Techniques

    1. Increasing Code Efficiency

    2. Decreasing Code Size

    3. Problems with Optimizing Compilers

    4. Reducing Memory Usage

    5. Power-Saving Techniques

    6. Limiting the Impact of C++

1. Appendix 1 The Arcom VIPER-Lite Development Kit

2. Appendix 2 Setting Up Your Software Development Environment

   1. Windows Host Installation

   2. Linux Host Installation

   3. Example Code Installation

3. Appendix 3 Building the GNU Software Tools

   1. Extracting the Source Files

   2. Building the Toolchain

4. Appendix 4 Setting Up the eCos Development Environment

   1. The eCos Build Environment

5. Appendix 5 Setting Up the Embedded Linux Development Environment

   1. Linux Build Environment Setup

   2. Embedded Linux Examples

The insects on the cover of Programming Embedded Systems with C and GNU Development Tools, Second Edition, are ticks. There are approximately 850 species of these small to microscopic, blood-feeding parasites distributed worldwide. They are particularly abundant in tropical and subtropical regions. There are two main families of ticks: hard ticks, whose mouth parts are visible from above, and soft ticks, whose mouth parts are hidden. In both hard and soft ticks, the mouth is made up of three major parts: the palps, the chelicerae, and the hypostome. It is the hypostome that is inserted into the host's skin while the tick is feeding. A series of backward-facing projections on the hypostome make it difficult to remove the tick from the skin. Most ticks also secrete a sticky substance that glues them into place. This substance dissolves when the tick is done feeding. Their external body surface expands from 200 to 600 percent to accommodate the blood that is ingested. Ticks go through three life stages: larva, nymph, and adult. At each stage they feed on a mammal, reptile, or bird host. Ticks wait for a host by perching on leaves or other surfaces with their front two legs extended. When a host brushes up against them they latch on and attach themselves. Adult female hard ticks lay a single batch of thousands of eggs and then die. Adult male ticks also die after a single mating. As parasites go, ticks can be very nasty. They transmit more disease than any other blood-sucking parasite, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and relapsing fever. They can also cause excessive blood loss. Some ticks secrete nerve poisons that can potentially cause death. A tick can be removed from skin by grasping it with a tweezer or a special tick-removing device as close to the skin as possible, and pulling in one steady motion. Do not squeeze the tick. Immediately flush it down the toilet-or place it in a sealed container and hold onto it for one month, in case you develop symptoms of a disease. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed.The production editors for Book Title, eMatter Edition were Ellie Cutler and Jeff Liggett. Linda Walsh was the product manager. Kathleen Wilson provided design support. Lenny Muellner, Mike Sierra, Erik Ray, and Benn Salter provided technical support. This eMatter Edition was produced with FrameMaker 5.5.6.