Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Better Embedded System Software e-Book & Paperback

There are only a handful of hardcover books left of the first edition, so I spend some time converting things over to an eBook & Paperback edition.

Amazon Kindle: https://amazon.com/gp/product/B08TZ9LYXC

Smashwords (epub): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1264918

Barnes & Noble (ebook): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/philip%20koopman

This is not a 2nd edition, but more like version 1.1.  The changes are:

  • Some minor rewording and cleanup.
  • A few small sections rewritten to reflect lessons I've learned about how to better explain things from teaching courses.  However, scope remains the same and the hardcover book is still serviceable if you already have that.
  • A new summary list of high-level takeaways in the conclusions chapter.
  • Publication support for everywhere KDP reaches, with local distribution in all supported markets.
The paperback is probably what you'd expect given the above, and is Print-On-Demand with production handled directly by Amazon.  There is no index due to publication platform issues. However, the table of contents is pretty well structured and in most cases that will get you where you need to go.  The price is significantly lower than the hardcover, and non-US readers can get it printed and shipped from someplace much closer to home since KDP has local POD for markets in Europe and Asia.

Amazon indicates they will print-on-demand for the following markets: US, DE, ES, FR, IT, UK, JP and CA.  Some readers report availability in other markets as well (for example, AU). So try your usual Amazon marketplace first, then one of the others close to you to minimize shipping cost.

The eBook is reflowable text for the body text (authored in EPUB format, but Amazon changes formats I believe).  Bitmaps are used for figures and equations, so it should look fine on most viewing devices without symbol font issues.  The price is significantly lower than the paperback since production and distribution costs are much lower.

Amazon has worldwide distribution rights for the eBook, but availability varies based on which country your device is set up for.  If your kindle is set up as being in the US market then you should have no troubles purchasing.  Many other markets (especially in Europe) should be fine as well.  Amazon promises e-boook availability in these specific markets: US (.com), IN, UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, NL, JP, BR, CA, MZ, AU.

The book is published via KDP, but Digital Rights Management (DRM) is OFF.  That should help folks with non-Amazon viewers (but I'm not able to provide support for how to side-load onto whatever platform).  If you have Kindle or a machine that runs the Kindle App then it should be seamless as with any other Kindle book.

I really appreciate the support of the thousands of readers of the hardcover edition over the past years. I hope that this makes the material more broadly available!


Saturday, January 9, 2021

The Y2038 Problem. Sooner than you think.

In the coming years, there will be other time rollovers beyond Y2K. The next big one isn't all that far away.

Contrary to what you might have heard, the reason more computers didn't break on Jan 1st 2000 wasn't because it was a false alarm. It was because massive resources were poured into avoiding many of the problems.  And many things did in fact break, but backup plans were in place.  (I recall not getting financial reports for most of 2000 for my spending accounts at work.  So I had to keep my own books and hope I didn't overspend -- because the old accounting system expired at the end of 1999 and the new one wasn't on-line until Fall 2000.)


In January 2021 we saw some aftershocks when a 2-year time digit window hack ran out of steam from Y2K patches.  But the world didn't come to an end.

The next potentially huge time problem will be January 2038 when the 32-bit signed Unix time in seconds rolls over.  

Plenty of embedded systems last 20+ years (already we are closer than that to 2038).  Plenty of embedded systems are using 32-bit Unix, since 64-bit CPUs just cost too much for the proverbial toaster oven.  An increasing number of systems are updatable, but many require manual intervention.   Updating your DVD player (if we still have them in 2038) won't be so bad.  Updating a natural gas pipeline valve in the middle of nowhere -- not as fun.   Updating all your smart light bulbs will range from tedious to buying all new lightbulbs. And so on.

This is a good time for embedded system designers to decide what their game plan is for Y2038.  As your expected product life starts overlapping with that (as I write this, it's only 17 years away), you're accumulating technical debt that will come due in a big chunk that year.  Better to have a plan now than a panic later.  Later has a way of sneaking up on you when you're not looking.

For a more detailed list of timer rollover issues, see:

http://www.lieberbiber.de/2017/03/14/a-look-at-the-year-20362038-problems-and-time-proofness-in-various-systems/


Tuesday, January 5, 2021

62 Software Experience Lessons by Karl Weigers

Karl Weigers has an essay about lessons he's learned from a long career in software development. You should benefit from his experience. The essay covers requirements, project management, quality, process improvement, and other insights.

https://medium.com/swlh/62-lessons-from-50-years-of-software-experience-2db0f400f706

A good example from the article is:

"You don’t have time to make every mistake that every software practitioner before you has already made. Read and respect the literature. Learn from your colleagues. Share your knowledge freely with others." 



Job and Career Advice

I sometimes get requests from LinkedIn contacts about help deciding between job offers. I can't provide personalize advice, but here are...