Skip to Main Content
Programming Embedded Systems, 2nd Edition
book

Programming Embedded Systems, 2nd Edition

by Michael Barr, Anthony Massa
October 2006
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
336 pages
9h 13m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Programming Embedded Systems, 2nd Edition

Device Driver Design

Most embedded systems have more than one device driver. In fact, sometimes there might be dozens. As your experience grows, you will need to understand the way different devices in the system interact with each other. You will also have to consider how the application software will use the device driver so that you can provide an adequate API.

You will need to have a good understanding of the overall software design and be aware of possible issues in the system. Getting input from multiple sources can lead to a better design. Here are some areas to consider when designing a software architecture that includes various device drivers:

Interrupt priorities

If interrupts are used for the device drivers in a system, you need to determine and set appropriate priority levels.

Complete requirements

You need to be aware of the requirements of the various peripherals in the system. You don’t want to design and implement your software in a manner that unknowingly handicaps the peripheral from operating as it is intended. This can cause such major problems that the product might not be usable until the system functions as specified. It’s a good idea to use software design reviews to flush out any potential problems that might have been overlooked by an individual developer.

Resource usage

It is important to understand what resources are necessary for each device driver. For example, imagine designing an Ethernet device driver in a system with a very limited amount of memory. ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Programming with STM32: Getting Started with the Nucleo Board and C/C++

Programming with STM32: Getting Started with the Nucleo Board and C/C++

Donald Norris

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596009836Supplemental ContentErrata Page