Software Prototyping

Posted by Gene Breniman on Aug 19 2008 under   

In my recent blog entry on the product development process (way down, near the end of the entry), I wrote the following:

"I continue these sorts of tests, building more and more complexity, until I am satisfied that my circuit is basically functional. Then, using the test code that I have created as a model, I begin to write the real software for my product. As my software grows, to complete the full functionality of my design, I sometime find it useful to drop back to my 'test software' to prove or test some function that I had not previously tested (or completely tested) during the bring up process."

At the time, I failed to drive home the true point of this paragraph, which is; 'Create a software prototype'. A few days after posting this, I picked up the latest issue of "Embedded Systems Design" and read the 'break points' article by Jack G. Ganssle on "Creating software prototypes". His article described, so eloquently, a topic that which I only spent one paragraph on (perhaps I was tired due to the length of my post). Here is a link to that awesome article:

http://www.embedded.com/columns/breakpoint/209600565

I hope to follow up my prior blog entry with a series of posts further explaining some of the steps in my development process (using illustrations and examples). Having come across this very informative article on 'Software Prototypes", I feel that there is little to more that I can add on this subject.

Happy Embedding!

Gene

Rate this article:

Rating: 4 | Votes: 1

posted by Gene Breniman
Gene Breniman is a founder of Young Embedded Systems, a firm specializing in low-cost test and measurement systems. Gene has over 30 years experience in design and development of hardware and software for embedded systems. He has worked in a variety of fields, including avionics, life sciences and automatic test equipment engineering.

Previous post by Gene Breniman: Bringing up Baby - product development thoughts
Next post by Gene Breniman: A part of history
all articles by Gene Breniman