Click here to Skip to main content
15,884,739 members
Home / Discussions / Work Issues
   

Work Issues

 
AnswerRe: Where to invest time? Pin
Richard MacCutchan6-Oct-11 21:20
mveRichard MacCutchan6-Oct-11 21:20 
AnswerRe: Where to invest time? PinPopular
Simon Bang Terkildsen6-Oct-11 22:02
Simon Bang Terkildsen6-Oct-11 22:02 
GeneralRe: Where to invest time? Pin
harsimranb15-Oct-11 10:07
harsimranb15-Oct-11 10:07 
AnswerRe: Where to invest time? Pin
DaveAuld6-Oct-11 23:16
professionalDaveAuld6-Oct-11 23:16 
GeneralRe: Where to invest time? Pin
Brian C Hart7-Oct-11 14:48
professionalBrian C Hart7-Oct-11 14:48 
GeneralRe: Where to invest time? Pin
harsimranb15-Oct-11 10:05
harsimranb15-Oct-11 10:05 
GeneralRe: Where to invest time? Pin
harsimranb15-Oct-11 10:09
harsimranb15-Oct-11 10:09 
AnswerRe: Where to invest time? Pin
mikemar9-Oct-11 13:32
mikemar9-Oct-11 13:32 
It sounds like you're off to a good start. I also like embedded programming so I'll give you some links to useful info but you'll have to decide what you're interested in and where to invest your time.

Like the other people said predictions are hard to make especially about the future. Although I don't agree with some of the more extreme cloud computing people I would say that things are probably going to continue to get more webified. Even things like the user interface for operating systems are starting to use web languages. And as long as hardware keeps getting cheaper (although moore's law is showing some signs of slowing down) I don't see any end to the prolifieration of high level stuff (frameworks, libraries, high level languages, and off the shelf solutions) at the expense of program efficiency. In the embedded world this will probably mean that assembly programming will probably continue to decline in importance although effiency will still matter some because battery life is somewhat correlated to program efficiency.

If you want to get into the embedded field the big languages seem to be C or C++ with assembly and Ada sometimes used too. Another thing to keep in mind is that some hardware knowledge is useful if you do any of the lower level programming. In fact many embedded programmers have Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering backgrounds instead of Computer Science backgrounds. There's also something called FPGA programming but you really have to understand electrical engineering for that. They use special languages for that.

For learning linux I would recommend learning the command line if you haven't already. Even though it seems obsolete to me compared to IDEs some places still use it for linux programming. In fact I used it on my last job. Python is also a good scripting language to know for linux people that seems to have been gaining popularity for a long time with no end in sight.


Pathachiever wrote:
I never worked with Embedded programming because the starter kit's were too expensive. Frown | :(


I bought 2 different ones that were $40 a piece although this was several years ago. One was Microchip which unfortunately didn't include a C compiler, only an assembler and another one from Zilog that did have a C compiler. Try looking at digikey.com and if you aren't sure which to buy call them and ask for a tech person and tell them your situation and budget and that you want one with a c or c++ compiler included and they're usually pretty helpful and actually know what they're talking about.

Also if you're interested in real time operating systems this is good freertos.org since you can get and look at the source code. If you want to really understand it you're going to have to buy the ebook that explains it. But I've read it and it's a pretty good book that not only explains freertos but real time concepts in general. But you'll need to understand general operating system concepts first like deadlocks, mutexes, semaphores ect.. first or it might not make sense.

Also if your interested in embedded stuff this language Ada might interest you. It's not real popular but it's used in some really important stuff like airplane controls, nuclear power plants, spacecraft, ect... beacause the language was build with strong error checking in mind. You can download a free compiler and IDE from here (it's free for non commericial purposes only) http://www.adacore.com/home/[^]

Here's some other good resources:

http://www.digikey.com/[^]

http://www.eetimes.com/design/embedded[^] It used to be embedded.com, has lots of info.

http://www.freertos.org/[^]

http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html[^] Take this with a huge grain of salt cause the measurement method isn't terribly acurate but if you look at long term trends you can see which languages are gaining or losing in popularity.
GeneralActively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour [modified] PinPopular
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:21
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:21 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
S Houghtelin8-Sep-11 3:26
professionalS Houghtelin8-Sep-11 3:26 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:36
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:36 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
S Houghtelin8-Sep-11 3:37
professionalS Houghtelin8-Sep-11 3:37 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Edw8-Sep-11 3:27
Edw8-Sep-11 3:27 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:30
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:30 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Edw8-Sep-11 3:42
Edw8-Sep-11 3:42 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:54
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:54 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Edw8-Sep-11 3:58
Edw8-Sep-11 3:58 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Rage8-Sep-11 4:21
professionalRage8-Sep-11 4:21 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 4:30
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 4:30 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
fjdiewornncalwe8-Sep-11 3:34
professionalfjdiewornncalwe8-Sep-11 3:34 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:35
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:35 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Rage8-Sep-11 3:55
professionalRage8-Sep-11 3:55 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:57
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa8-Sep-11 3:57 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Rage8-Sep-11 4:02
professionalRage8-Sep-11 4:02 
GeneralRe: Actively looking for a job in North America, will accept $1,000,000/hour Pin
Rage8-Sep-11 4:07
professionalRage8-Sep-11 4:07 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.