Re: Computer programmers' habits in electronics

Ignoramus10397 wrote:

On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 18:57:14 +0000, Dirk Bruere at Neopax <dirk.bruere@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

It depends.
I normally start by writing all the drivers that will actually interface with bits of hardware. That doesn't really take much 'design' in the normal sense of the word, but it gives me something to flash lights with.

Then I start at the top end and sketch out what classes/functions I need to get down to driver level.

Right now I'm into a control system being written in C++. It will probably top 3000 lines when complete, but I still do not need a formal design methodology.

I have spent a great deal of time on the control protocol that interfaces with a PC. That determines the data structures and hence classes. It's all quite straightforward.

Now, if I was having to collaborate on a bigger prog then formal methods would probably be indispensible.


Not necessarily, if you have good programmers to work with, you can
agree on who writes what libraries and in approximately what ways.

The biggest programming job I have worked on was one that topped (I estimate) 30,000 lines. There were two of us on that, and we needed only informal get-togethers to split the tasks reasonably smoothly.

Of course, what makes the job I am currently working on even easier is that I'm designing the h/w along with the s/w. However, I *will* be using circuit diagrams!

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org
.

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