The Embedded Project Cookbook: A Step-by-Step Guide for Microcontroller Projects

Scan of TOC/index, read first page of each chapter/appendix, read first sentence of each paragraph in chapters, read 2 chapters in full, and flip-through all appendices. Also TOC/index scan and full flip-through of companion "Patterns In The Machine: A Software Engineering Guide to Embedded Development" (PIM) by same authors (Jacob Beningo, technical reviewer).Excellent books, well worth a full read.EPC is 280 pages of chapters and 380 pages of appendices. Chapters cover the cookbook process of developing an embedded system microcontroller project, using an example Digital Heater Controller project, the "GM6000". Appendices cover code, tools, and worked-out example process deliverables for the GM6000.PIM provides background material fleshing out the details of some of the things used in EPC, 260 pages of chapters and 20 pages of appendices.EPC fills a vital need in the embedded software development literature: very practical, pragmatic processes and techniques for building real-world industry projects, via a fully-worked non-trivial example, on two example hardware platforms (ST NUCLEO-F413ZH and Adafruit Grand Central M4 Express).This is thorough, disciplined engineering intended to build successful products that won't come back and bite you with problems.Applies to the full range of non-regulaged and regulated industries, consumer products to medical/aerospace/automotive. There will be complaints that it is "too waterfall," "not waterfall enough," "too agile," "not agile enough," "too heavyweight," "too lightweight." It's formality is adaptable, offering a variety of choices to tailor it to your product and regulatory environment.A key is early feedback. It covers CI, using short-lived branches merged to main at least once a day; automated testing as an integral part of the code development step; building functional simulators immediately so that code can be exercised before hardware is ready (overlapping with automated testing). It covers up-front and just-in-time requirements and design, since many things will be known up front but it's rare to know everything.Also key is abstraction/isolation, so a project can adapt to changing requirements or be re-platformed (remember pandemic supply chain chaos?).EPC/PIM integrate a number of useful practices I've seen at a variety of companies. Each has further learning curve, but the books provide the guidance to put you on the right path.Suitable for organizations looking to implement or improve their embedded system development processes. Suitable for engineers at all levels of seniority. Excellent for new graduates making the leap from academic to professional industry environment, introducing practical everyday getting-the-job-done engineering never covered in school.

New book, new disclaimer, same praise: I am still digesting the Cookbook at the time of this review but it already shines among the crowded field of tech knowledge books.It does this with the kinds of recipes it offers: as another review points out, this is not a beginner's book or hobbyist collection of blinky examples. This one is for the practicing professional in need of a good reference of all the things besides the code that go into 'production code'. In other words much of John's cookbook is recipes for Process.Fully a third of the book's main chapters are devoted to planning. Well before showing you any courier font, John walks you through requirements and traceability and the list of the documentation you'll either be on the hook for or at least wish you hadn't ignored later on. The third chapter, 'Analysis', is an invaluable guide to forming questions to ask if you're in the estimation phase or sitting in on a sales call.EPC isn't just planning - it has plenty to offer in the 'cookbook' sense with close to an alphabet's list of appendices, which illustrate a digital heater controller example project and its detailed progression through the processes outlined in the main chapters (now you get your courier font). The book is nicely divided then, with the back half a good tutorial of the front half's philosophy.I would recommend this book the most to newly-minted Seniors or Leads, those who now have responsibilities beyond adding features or fixing bugs. I'd also recommend it to anyone with startup burnout: if you're used to the wild west and are craving some structure, or are curious about a jump to something regulated (i.e. medical devices) or services/consulting oriented, this book will help you.The best thing about these recipes though is the same thing that's great about John's free-to-use Patterns in the Machine framework (check out his first book!): it's highly portable. These recipes are good to follow for every engineer, embedded or not, junior or senior. Like PIM, this book's concepts work in every kitchen. Become a chef.Thank you for continuing to teach me, John.

I highly recommend this book for any embedded systems professional that is looking for ways to better efficiently establish and implement development process, modularize code base, and have a reliable resource to go back and refer to at any stage of the project.This is an excellent book that provides in depth guidance for all phases of embedded systems development. Starting from conceptualization to release of an actual embedded product with topics including requirements gathering, detailed design, coding, unit testing, and various other facets of embedded design, this is a great book to have for a seasoned embedded developer's arsenal although it also caters to managers who want to understand what it takes for an embedded system based project to succeed. For professionals who find themselves implementing same process and frameworks over and over for new projects, this book will prove to be immensely helpful as it focuses on modular architecture for coding and unit test and templates for documentation and other best practices that can be reused thereby cutting down overall implementation time.As an icing on the cake, all materials are backed by examples that fully implement an embedded system end to end. It also contains online links and resources to tools and frameworks that authors have developed that can be used freely.