Embedded Software for the IoT

4Software architecture

4.1Design for performance

Working with software, PC as well as embedded, for more than 30 years, has led me to realize that a system designed for performance is often also a simple system, easy to explain, easy to understand, and robust. On the other hand, code that is performance-optimal is mostly difficult to create, even more difficult to read a year later, and often prone to bugs. Add to this that the performance gain in a good design, compared to a bad design, may be a factor of 10, whereas performance improvements in code optimization are measured in percentages and 25 percent is a “boost.”

There are typically very few “inner loops” such as the ones in digital filters discussed in Chapter 11. This all leads to the ...