Hello, I was browsing through older posts that deal with the painful issue of portability (http://www.keil.com/forum/docs/thread8109.asp). I was (and still am) a big advocate of programming as much as possible conforming to the C standard, and having a layered structure that allowed "plugging-in" other hardware. But I have come to change my mind recently. I am reading the "ARM system developer's guide" (excellent book by the way. I'm reading it because I want to port some C167 code to an ARM9 environment) in which chapter 5 discusses writing efficient C code for an ARM. The point is, and it is fairly demonstrated, that even common, innocent looking C code can either be efficient of very inefficient on an ARM depending on specific choices made, let alone another processor used! So, if we are talking about squeezing every clock cycle out of a microcontroller - I do not believe that portability without ultimately littering the code is possible!
Vince, Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Your previous manager was an unprofessional lier - others, like the one that dictated me today to "finish it or the machine isn't shipped" are not much better. I didn't have the courage to deliberately damage something in protest (see Erik's story - very funny by the way) since lives may be at risk, but I actually delivered an incomplete sub-system: key safety features are not implemented because I didn't get test time ("don't worry, we always have time to work on the software." ya right, I have to go abroad for that instead of doing it in the lab!) and the little time that I did get was not enough. management does not seem to be engaged by either software safety concerns, schedules, software quality, nothing. it all does not matter as long as profits are made.
management does not seem to be engaged by either software safety concerns, schedules, software quality, nothing. it all does not matter as long as profits are made.
I'm sure some people think that "Human Safety Factors" means they've Factored in the cost of Human Safety, and it will still be profitable to ship without fully testing the unit.
erik, Funny! Justice can be sweet. But, imagine if you didn't document those things that you did. How different the outcome would have been.
--Cpt. Vince Foster 2nd Cannon Place Fort Marcy Park, VA