Embedded systems control the brakes of cars, the flaps of airplanes, traffic signaling systems, medical equipment, and other life-critical devices, and they must respond in realtime.
Embedded systems are different in several ways from other software environments. The hardware they run on is often resource-constrained in terms of both memory and processor cycles, but still these systems must respond in realtime. They control the brakes of cars, the flaps of airplanes, traffic signaling systems, medical equipment, and other life-critical devices. Programming as if someone’s life depended on it is a new concept to many systems engineers.