Programming Embedded Systems in C and C++

8 Chapter 1: Introduction

video game player, it is not necessarily the same type of processor that would be

found in a 64-bit personal computer. In all likelihood, the processor is highly spe-

cialized for the demands of the video games it is intended to play.

Because production cost is so crucial in the home video game market, the design-

ers also use tricks to shift the costs around. For example, one common tactic is to

move as much of the memory and other peripheral electronics as possible off of

the main circuit board and onto the game cartridges. This helps to reduce the cost

of the game player, but increases the price of each and every game. So, while the

system might have a powerful 64-bit processor, it might have only a few mega-

bytes of memory on the main circuit board. This is just enough memory to boot-

strap the machine to a state from which it can access additional memory on the

game cartridge.

Mars Explorer

In 1976, two unmanned spacecraft arrived on the planet Mars. As part of their mis-

sion, they were to collect samples of the Martian surface, analyze the chemical

makeup of each, and transmit the results to scientists back on Earth. Those Viking

missions are amazing to me. Surrounded by personal computers that must be

rebooted almost daily, I find it remarkable that more than 20 years ago a team of

scientists and engineers successfully built two computers that survived a journey ...