It starts with an LED
And slowly builds up from there.
I have been an embedded software engineer for many years. I was programming when I was a teenager before then, as a high school student involved in an NSF program called "National Science Foundation Summer Science Training Program (for High School Students)" or as we would rattle off during that summer of exquisite learning, NSFSSTP. We were taught to program in Fortran and taught the fundamentals of Calculus. It was a very enriching experience.
When it...
A part of history
This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the 40-year anniversary celebration of the formation of my high school's radio station (KVHS). The current students and staff of KVHS hosted a birthday party for the radio station and invited former alumni and teachers and the public to share in the celebration. On hand was a pretty good showing of the current and former students and teachers that helped build one of the most successful student-run radio station programs in...
Configuration Management: Why Developers are Avert to
A few reasons why developers have aversion towards "Software Configuration Management Systems"
(1) They do not understand the importance of configuration management. - It is a common and logical reason. But, it is also a very dangerous sign for any organization. If their developers do not understand the importance of configuration management; then it is highly likely that developers even do not understand the other fundamentals of software development. The situation becomes worst...
Nokia in Soup Again?
After suffering a big blow its image due to faulty "BL-5C Batteries", Nokia seems to have landed in another trouble. Company's decision to shutdown its manufacturing plant in Germany, has sparked strong public ire towards Nokia in the country. The strong political and government support to the Anti-Nokia movement, might mean a further Erosion of Company's Image and loss of revenue in Germany (and some other...Next time you refer to an Optical Disc
I recently came across this interesting (and lesser known) fact about Optical Discs:
The word disc, in reference to DVD or CD, should be spelled with a c, not a k. The generally accepted rule is that optical discs are spelled with a c, whereas magnetic disks are spelled with a k. For magneto-optical discs, which are a combination of both formats, the word is spelled with c because the discs are read with a laser. The New York Times, after years of head-in-the-sand usage of k for...
Demoing Your Software
I came across this interesting blog entry on "Product Demo". Apart from touching upon some public speaking and presentation skills, it contains facts and data which you might find plenty useful.Configuration Management: Why Developers are Avert to
A few reasons why developers have aversion towards "Software Configuration Management Systems"
(1) They do not understand the importance of configuration management. - It is a common and logical reason. But, it is also a very dangerous sign for any organization. If their developers do not understand the importance of configuration management; then it is highly likely that developers even do not understand the other fundamentals of software development. The situation becomes worst...
Nokia in Soup Again?
After suffering a big blow its image due to faulty "BL-5C Batteries", Nokia seems to have landed in another trouble. Company's decision to shutdown its manufacturing plant in Germany, has sparked strong public ire towards Nokia in the country. The strong political and government support to the Anti-Nokia movement, might mean a further Erosion of Company's Image and loss of revenue in Germany (and some other...Book Review: "Turing's Cathedral"
My library had Turing’s Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe by George Dyson on its new acquisitions shelf, so I read it. I’d recommend the book to anyone interested in the history of computing.
Turing’s Cathedral primarly covers the period in early computing from 1940-1958, and bridges a gap between a few other popular books: on the historic side, between Richard Rhodes’s
Painting with Light to Measure Time
Recently I was faced with a dilemma while working from home. I needed to verify an implementation of first-order sigma-delta modulation used to adjust LED brightness. (I have described this in more detail in Modulation Alternatives for the Software Engineer.) I did not, however, have an oscilloscope.
And then I remembered something, about a technique called “light painting”: basically a long-exposure photograph where a...
Demoing Your Software
I came across this interesting blog entry on "Product Demo". Apart from touching upon some public speaking and presentation skills, it contains facts and data which you might find plenty useful.Python Code from My Articles Now Online in IPython Notebooks
Ever since I started using IPython Notebooks to write these articles, I’ve been wanting to publish them in a form such that you can freely use my Python code. One of you (maredsous10) wanted this access as well.
Well, I finally bit the bullet and automated a script that will extract the Python code and create standalone notebooks, that are available publicly under the Apache license on my bitbucket account: https://bitbucket.org/jason_s/embedded-blog-public
This also means they...
On optimizing manual soldering
When faced with manual soldering of thousands of components, speed and efficiency become pivotal. Here are some takeaways from my own experience attempting to optimize such a process.
Scorchers, Part 4: Burned by the Happy Path (Simon Says)
As engineers, we have to think carefully about how our designs may be used in ways we did not foresee. You may have heard of the happy path, which describes a sequence of events someone takes to use a product — whether it’s software or hardware. The line between software and hardware has gotten pretty blurry in recent years due to the prevalence of embedded systems. (Good news for embedded engineers!) Things have gotten
Nokia in Soup Again?
After suffering a big blow its image due to faulty "BL-5C Batteries", Nokia seems to have landed in another trouble. Company's decision to shutdown its manufacturing plant in Germany, has sparked strong public ire towards Nokia in the country. The strong political and government support to the Anti-Nokia movement, might mean a further Erosion of Company's Image and loss of revenue in Germany (and some other...Next time you refer to an Optical Disc
I recently came across this interesting (and lesser known) fact about Optical Discs:
The word disc, in reference to DVD or CD, should be spelled with a c, not a k. The generally accepted rule is that optical discs are spelled with a c, whereas magnetic disks are spelled with a k. For magneto-optical discs, which are a combination of both formats, the word is spelled with c because the discs are read with a laser. The New York Times, after years of head-in-the-sand usage of k for...
Demoing Your Software
I came across this interesting blog entry on "Product Demo". Apart from touching upon some public speaking and presentation skills, it contains facts and data which you might find plenty useful.Supply Chain Games: A Warning on Tariffs
Things have changed quite a bit in the last two years with the automotive & industrial semiconductor market — from extreme chip shortage to inventory glut. I wanted to weigh in on our most recent economic news — tariff wars — while I’m still working on the next chapter of the Supply Chain Games series. (Yes, the last part I published was Part Five on cycle time in August 2023; no, I haven’t forgotten.) Part Six is really tricky to write, and I’m...
