multiple instances of ITC objects in CMSIS-RTOS

I had a similar need for reusable code involving mutexes. The way the macros are defined in
cmsis_os.h make that difficult, but after some study it appears all that's needed is a
control block of uint32_t[4] and a temporary pointer.

The osMutexDef(x) goes away, as does osMutex(x). I've replaced those with:

typedef struct _osMutexCb {
   uint32_t    cb[4];     // this is the actual control block
   void        *pCb;      // pointer to the control block. Only needed during osMutexCreate
} osMutexCb_t;

You should be able to allocate space for that statically or dynamically, as many of
them as you need.

I've created a wrapper for the create. This could also be done as a macro or inline, but I
have some portability issues with the latter.

osMutexId osMutexCreate2(osMutexCb_t *MutexCb) {
   MutexCb->pCb = (void *) MutexCb->cb;
   return osMutexCreate((const osMutexDef_t *) &MutexCb->pCb);
}

The other mutex functions only use the osMutexId (which is just a pointer to the control
block, so why couldn't osMutexCreate just use it in the first place?). Duh.

That's an awfully lot of monkey motion for a relatively simple thing. It's also a redundant
level of indirection where we're sending osMutexCreate a pointer to a pointer. In the
standard cmsis syntax using osMutexDef macro, that pointer space is only used once for the
create. I tested this using an auto variable, demonstrating it does not need to be retained.

The old Keil programmers would have never permanently wasted those 4 bytes, or the redundant
level of indirection. They were careful of CPU clocks and space efficiency.

I've seen some claims posted here that the standard osMutexDef() and osMutex() macros make
code more readable. Nonsense. Wrapping a simple block of storage in a macro that references
a typedef is less readable, not more. It took several hours to conclude that all you needed
was 16 bytes of storage and send osMutexCreate a pointer to a pointer to that storage
and you're finished.

I'm at a loss to understand why Keil created these macros that make it difficult to write
reusable code. The only reasonable answer might be that programmers will be less likely
to "lose" control blocks by deallocating them from dynamic memory, or some other accident.

Ok. But they could have easily protected dumb programmers by retaining the control block
within OS static memory and allocating it during mutex create. Yes, that would mean a fixed
number of mutexes would be allowed, but that's no different than the static memory allocated
for the stack, or the fixed number of threads, etc.

The bottom line is cmsis should have been similar to other OSes, and allow programmers
to control their own mutexes and other OS objects. This would make portability and
re-learning issues easier. I'm sure whomever designed this thing believes they were doing
someone a favor. Sorry, no. It made things much more difficult, and in the end I've just
rewritten a chunk of cmsis_os.h to let me do what I need to do. No doubt I'll rewrite
more of it. That's time I've wasted merely because the convoluted multi-layer syntax in
cmsis_os_h wouldn't allow me to do what is easily done with other OSes.

I had a similar need for reusable code involving mutexes. The way the macros are defined in
cmsis_os.h make that difficult, but after some study it appears all that's needed is a
control block of uint32_t[4] and a temporary pointer.

The osMutexDef(x) goes away, as does osMutex(x). I've replaced those with:

typedef struct _osMutexCb {
   uint32_t    cb[4];     // this is the actual control block
   void        *pCb;      // pointer to the control block. Only needed during osMutexCreate
} osMutexCb_t;

You should be able to allocate space for that statically or dynamically, as many of
them as you need.

I've created a wrapper for the create. This could also be done as a macro or inline, but I
have some portability issues with the latter.

osMutexId osMutexCreate2(osMutexCb_t *MutexCb) {
   MutexCb->pCb = (void *) MutexCb->cb;
   return osMutexCreate((const osMutexDef_t *) &MutexCb->pCb);
}

The other mutex functions only use the osMutexId (which is just a pointer to the control
block, so why couldn't osMutexCreate just use it in the first place?). Duh.

That's an awfully lot of monkey motion for a relatively simple thing. It's also a redundant
level of indirection where we're sending osMutexCreate a pointer to a pointer. In the
standard cmsis syntax using osMutexDef macro, that pointer space is only used once for the
create. I tested this using an auto variable, demonstrating it does not need to be retained.

The old Keil programmers would have never permanently wasted those 4 bytes, or the redundant
level of indirection. They were careful of CPU clocks and space efficiency.

I've seen some claims posted here that the standard osMutexDef() and osMutex() macros make
code more readable. Nonsense. Wrapping a simple block of storage in a macro that references
a typedef is less readable, not more. It took several hours to conclude that all you needed
was 16 bytes of storage and send osMutexCreate a pointer to a pointer to that storage
and you're finished.

I'm at a loss to understand why Keil created these macros that make it difficult to write
reusable code. The only reasonable answer might be that programmers will be less likely
to "lose" control blocks by deallocating them from dynamic memory, or some other accident.

Ok. But they could have easily protected dumb programmers by retaining the control block
within OS static memory and allocating it during mutex create. Yes, that would mean a fixed
number of mutexes would be allowed, but that's no different than the static memory allocated
for the stack, or the fixed number of threads, etc.

The bottom line is cmsis should have been similar to other OSes, and allow programmers
to control their own mutexes and other OS objects. This would make portability and
re-learning issues easier. I'm sure whomever designed this thing believes they were doing
someone a favor. Sorry, no. It made things much more difficult, and in the end I've just
rewritten a chunk of cmsis_os.h to let me do what I need to do. No doubt I'll rewrite
more of it. That's time I've wasted merely because the convoluted multi-layer syntax in
cmsis_os_h wouldn't allow me to do what is easily done with other OSes.