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Embedded Systems Programming in C and Assembly by John Forest Brown Recommended

ISBN: 0-442-01817-7       Publisher: Van Nostrand Reinhold       Pages: 304pp & disk       Price: £41.50

Categories:   embedded systems     assembler

Reviewed by Derek Graham in C Vu 7-5 (Jul 1995)

The book starts with an explanation of what constitutes an embedded system, typical applications and the differences in writing software for embedded versus standard PC architectures. Writing device drivers without operating system calls, writing software startup modules, real-time interrupt handling, hardware requirements, in-circuit emulation, debugging and the final burning of a PROM are all covered with a fair amount of detail in their own chapters. The emphasis is on writing ISO compliant C which does not rely on operating system specifics and getting 'down and dirty' with the hardware of your chosen system.

Seven appendices detail an example application developed to be a flight simulator for the US Air Force. All the source code is well documented and commented but you will need to devote some study to the details to get the most from this book.

The book is well written, is easy to read and all the diagrams are clear and unambiguous. A good deal of technical detail is provided about the functioning of Intel and Motorola CPUs. It's ideal for anyone contemplating writing embedded systems software but be prepared for lots of inline assembler and getting in touch with your 'Inner Hardware Engineer'. A 3.5" disc is provided with the book containing all of the examples in the book.

A very practical and useful book, if a little expensive. Not for the faint- hearted.

The above book was also reviewed by Chris Hills in C Vu 6.5