Favorite Code Tricks Archives

Why I prefer C++: “RAII All The Things!”

Posted by Matthew Eshlemanon November 26, 2019July 7, 2020in Best Practices, C++11, Favorite Code TricksLeave a comment

Learn how the C++ RAII idiom enables better code with reduced maintenance overhead.

Why I love C++11 for Embedded Software and Firmware (or C++14, or…)

Posted by Matthew Eshlemanon February 13, 2018July 7, 2020in C++11, Commentary, Favorite Code Tricks5 Comments

In the firmware and embedded software engineering domains, engineers overwhelmingly choose C as their language of choice. Evidence of this may be seen in the following screen-grab of a presentation by Dan Saks at CppCon2016. I would recommend the entire presentation, which…

Brother, can you spare a GPIO?

Posted by Matthew Eshlemanon December 27, 2016February 16, 2022in Favorite Code Tricks, Real Time, Research3 Comments

Got a spare GPIO? A spare GPIO is an excellent tool to have in our troubleshooting and performance characterization toolbox.

Favorite Tools – Look Up Tables

Posted by Matthew Eshlemanon October 24, 2016October 22, 2016in Favorite Code TricksLeave a comment

As we grow in our engineering careers, we must continually add new tools to our collective tool kits. One favorite tool in my toolkit will be obvious to many experienced embedded software engineers. I still remember learning this approach early…

Favorite Tricks: Static Assert

Posted by Matthew Eshlemanon September 26, 2016March 28, 2020in Favorite Code Tricks2 Comments

One of my favorite software development "tricks" is making frequent use of any "static assert" feature provided by the compiler. This trick's primary benefit is in moving certain error conditions to compile-time rather than run-time. Embedded software engineers would be wise…