Table of Contents

Foreword 
Preface 
1. Introduction

      What Is an Embedded System? 

      Variations on a Theme 

      Embedded Design Examples 

      Life As an Embedded Software Developer 

      The C Language: The Lowest Common Denominator 

      A Few Words About Hardware 
2. Getting to Know the Hardware

      Understanding the Big Picture 

      Hardware Basics 

      Examine the Landscape 

      Learn How to Communicate 

      Getting to Know the Processor 

      Study the External Peripherals 

      Initialize the Hardware 
3. Your First Embedded Program

      Hello, World! 

      The Blinking LED Program 

      The Role of the Infinite Loop 
4. Compiling, Linking, and Locating

      The Build Process 

      Building the Blinking LED Program 

      A Quick Look at Makefiles 
5. Downloading and Debugging

      Downloading the Blinking LED Program 

      Remote Debuggers 

      Emulators 

      Other Useful Tools 

      Dig into the Hardware 
6. Memory

      Types of Memory 

      Direct Memory Access 

      Endian Issues 

      Memory Testing 

      Validating Memory Contents 

      Using Flash Memory 
7. Peripherals

      Control and Status Registers 

      The Device Driver Philosophy 

      Device Driver Design 
8. Interrupts

      Overview 

      Interrupt Map 

      Interrupt Service Routine 

      The Improved Blinking LED Program 

      Summary of Interrupt Issues 
9. Putting It All Together

      Application Overview 

      Working with Serial Ports 

      Command-Line Interface Processing 
10. Operating Systems

      History and Purpose 

      The Scheduler 

      Tasks 

      Task Synchronization 

      Message Passing 

      Other Functionality 

      Interrupt Handling 

      Real-Time Characteristics 

      To Use or Not to Use an RTOS 

      Additional Resources 
11. eCos Examples

      Introduction 

      Task Mechanics 

      Mutex Task Synchronization 

      Semaphore Task Synchronization 

      Message Passing 

      eCos Interrupt Handling 
12. Embedded Linux Examples

      Introduction 

      Accessing Hardware in Linux 

      Task Mechanics 

      Mutex Task Synchronization 

      Semaphore Task Synchronization 

      Message Passing 
13. Extending Functionality

      Common Peripherals 

      Networking for All Devices Great and Small 
14. Optimization Techniques

      Increasing Code Efficiency 

      Decreasing Code Size 

      Problems with Optimizing Compilers 

      Reducing Memory Usage 

      Power-Saving Techniques 

      Limiting the Impact of C++ 
A. The Arcom VIPER-Lite Development Kit
B. Setting Up Your Software Development Environment
C. Building the GNU Software Tools
D. Setting Up the eCos Development Environment
E. Setting Up the Embedded Linux Development Environment
Index 

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