Book Image

The Complete Edition - Software Engineering for Real-Time Systems

By : Jim Cooling
Book Image

The Complete Edition - Software Engineering for Real-Time Systems

By: Jim Cooling

Overview of this book

From air traffic control systems to network multimedia systems, real-time systems are everywhere. The correctness of the real-time system depends on the physical instant and the logical results of the computations. This book provides an elaborate introduction to software engineering for real-time systems, including a range of activities and methods required to produce a great real-time system. The book kicks off by describing real-time systems, their applications, and their impact on software design. You will learn the concepts of software and program design, as well as the different types of programming, software errors, and software life cycles, and how a multitasking structure benefits a system design. Moving ahead, you will learn why diagrams and diagramming plays a critical role in the software development process. You will practice documenting code-related work using Unified Modeling Language (UML), and analyze and test source code in both host and target systems to understand why performance is a key design-driver in applications. Next, you will develop a design strategy to overcome critical and fault-tolerant systems, and learn the importance of documentation in system design. By the end of this book, you will have sound knowledge and skills for developing real-time embedded systems.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Preface
15
Glossary of terms

2.4 A Final Comment

It is only in the last few years that the ideas and methods described here have been put into action by the software industry. Much more still remains to be done, especially in view of the "cottage industry" mentality of many developers. It's not as if professionals don't recognize the problems of software design and development. In fact, many tools and techniques have been proposed with a fervor normally associated with evangelical rallies. Most of the early developments came from the data processing field, a trend that has continued with object-oriented (OO) technology. Unfortunately, these have little to offer for real-time work. Now, the sheer size of the software problem (time, cost, reliability, and so on) is acting as the driving force for the development of the following:

  • New and better tools specifically designed for the real-time market
  • Powerful, integrated development environments
  • Design formality
  • Defined documentation...