EMBEDDED SYSTEMS BASICS

An embedded system is some combination of computer hardware and software, either fixed in capability or programmable, that is specifically designed for a particular function.

Embedded systems programming is not like normal PC programming. In many ways, programming for an embedded system is like programming a PC 15 years ago. The hardware for the system is usually chosen to make the device as cheap as possible. Spending an extra dollar a unit in order to make things easier to program can cost millions. Hiring a programmer for an extra month is cheap in comparison. This means the programmer must make do with slow processors and low memory, while at the same time battling a need for efficiency not seen in most PC applications. 

Tools

Embedded development makes up a small fraction of total programming. There's also a large number of embedded architectures, unlike the PC world where 1 instruction set rules, and the Unix world where there's only 3 or 4 major ones. This means that the tools are more expensive. It also means that they're lower featured, and less developed. On a major embedded project, at some point you will almost always find a compiler bug of some sort.

Debugging tools are another issue. Since you can't always run general programs on your embedded processor, you can't always run a debugger on it. This makes fixing your program difficult. Special hardware such as JTAG ports can overcome this issue in part. However, if you stop on a breakpoint when your system is controlling real world hardware (such as a motor), permanent equipment damage can occur. As a result, people doing embedded programming quickly become masters at using serial IO channels and error message style debugging.

Real Time Issues

Embedded systems frequently control hardware, and must be able to respond to them in real time. Failure to do so could cause inaccuracy in measurements, or even damage hardware such as motors. This is made even more difficult by the lack of resources available. Almost all embedded systems need to be able to prioritize some tasks over others, and to be able to put off/skip low priority tasks such as UI in favor of high priority tasks like hardware control.

Fixed-Point Arithmetic

Many embedded projects enforce a no floating point rule on their programmers.

Fixed-point arithmetic and other alternatives are often better than floating point arithmetic.