• Programming Embedded Systems: With C and GNU Development Tools, 2nd Edition | | | |
• Embedded Systems Design: An Introduction to Processes, Tools and Techniques | | | |
• Designing Embedded Hardware | | | |
• Real-Time Concepts for Embedded Systems | | | |
• Embedded Systems Architecture: A Comprehensive Guide for Engineers and Programmers (Embedded Technology) | | | |

Great introduction
Review written by: The Actor From Chicago
I must say that this was one of the best programming books I've read in a long time. The author's explanations are clear and concise, yet thorough enough to accomplish the book's purpose. I also appreciated the examples he gives, which were very appropriate and helpful; while some people complained about his use of the imaginary "C!" language (basically, C with a certain amount of "magic"), I found this helpful because it allowed him to omit certain things that were irrelevant to the overall example (for example, do we really care about the specifics of how to read data from an obscure device from the 90's that we'll never actually use?).

This book presents a great overview of the basic techniques, problems, and tools of embedded software. If you are just getting started in the field, this book will speed up your learning curve dramatically and help you avoid a lot of headaches and mistakes.

With that said, this book does assume that you have a certain knowledge base. For example, while this book does review the basics of digital logic design, this chapter is intended as a review, so if you don't have any background in the field you may have trouble following it. It also assumes that you know the C programming language (again, if you don't know this, you may have a very hard time following this book).

Some people also complained that this book is "too basic," but I disagree. While this book certainly won't make you an expert on the topic overnight or cover some of the more advanced or specialized topics in the field, it's not really intended to - that's why it's called a "primer." This book is good for people who are making the transition from desktop programming to embedded software development or are otherwise just starting out in the field, but it's not intended for people who have been in the field for the last 20 years (unless they want to review the basics again, which isn't a bad thing to do).

My one complaint (and this isn't really the author's fault) is that this book is a little out of date at points, since it was published in the late 90's. For example, the author's treatment of ROM seems to assume that it's still commonly used (it's not, and I'm not sure exactly why you'd still want to use it for most applications). I'd like to see them come out with a second edition to update it.

Definitely highly recommended.

Great textbook for an "Intro to Embedded Systems" couse
Review written by: Lisa Simone From Bridgewater, NJ USA
I developed an introductory embedded systems class for university graduate students, and searched for a book that would provide both introductory and low-level information, with the assumption that students may come from different backgrounds in engineering and computer science. Based on my own industry experience, I wanted a book that started at the metal and explained the fundamentals so students learned from the ground up. This book fit the bill. It begins with the important hardware concepts and ties them directly to their applicability to embedded systems, and then jumps into timing diagrams, interrupts, buses and memory in a straightforward manner.

The book continues with different types of software architectures and operating system services, with hard examples that are easy to understand. A very important chapter covers debugging techniques. Since a large chunk of time is spend debugging embedded systems, it is important to see that directly addressed in an introductory book. The only topic missing was really basic software programming, which is necessary for those with little software experience. But this does not detract from the topics covered.

I taught the chapters of this book a little out of order, addressing the development tools and debugging techniques (later chapters) earlier in the process. Simon provides a chapter dependency flow chart that assists in different learning paths.

The book was a wonderful launching point for tying learning with designing embedded systems in industry. It was well received by the students, who had had absolutely no idea what an embedded system was, even though we discovered together that they all owned tons of them.

Very well done!

Lisa Simone If I Only Changed the Software, Why is the Phone on Fire?: Embedded Debugging Methods Revealed: Technical Mysteries for Engineers

Embedded Software
Review written by: Harlan E. Zamora From McHenry, Illinois USA
This is an awesome book for anyone who is new to embedded software development. I used it while taking a class at UCIrvine and it was an interesting book and not hard to read, very reader friendly. Definetly a good book for anyone starting a career in embedded software development.

Excellent intro to the fundamentals
Review written by: Bilal Masood From Islamabad, Pakistan
Many people would argue that the material in this text is far too basic. I think this is precisely the strength of this book. I enjoyed reading this book despite being an experienced embedded developer.

There is no one-stop-shop in embedded software development. If you adopt it as a career, there are many things you will need to learn over time: architectures of multiple processors, a variety development tools, RTOSes and a lot more. For the most part the book stays clear of the specifics of all of these. However, it does teach you the fundamentals of all of them. The information about hardware interfacing, processors, interrupts, shared data problems, RTOS based design, and common mistakes is sufficient to get a new-comer started quickly. In my early days, I spent hours, sometimes days, chasing bugs similar to those this book teaches you to avoid.

In short, the book is just what says it is: "What you need to know to get started with embedded systems development". I would highly recommend it to any newcomer to this field.

Dated, but still valuable
Review written by: J. Watson From Lancaster, PA
This book hits most of the major points in embedded software programming, clearly and concisely. It it almost 10 years old, though, and some of the discussion shows it (especially hardware). It would be great if they would do a second edition, as the book is a great read otherwise.