Author Barry Kauler, developer of an object-oriented design methodology, explains and demonstrates his unique notation and diagramming software in Flow Design for Embedded Systems: A Simple, Unified Object-Oriented Methodology. The book and companion disk include GOOFEE Diagrammer CASE software and TERSE, an operating system for distributed microcontroller systems.
Readers who are currently using ad hoc program design methods or who are having difficulty integrating the object orientation paradigm into the design of embedded applications will benefit from Kauler's holistic design approach. His diagramming notation and design methodology is applicable to the tiniest project, is incredibly easy to use, and is a truly unified methodology.
Kauler provides the tools and understanding to impose order, readability, intuitiveness, and precision on a project, whatever the size and whatever programing paradigm is used as a starting point. His method of object-oriented conceptualization at the analysis and design phase satisfies the requirements for methodology and documentation that become more stringent as a project grows or complexity increases. These concepts hold even if the programing language to be used is not object oriented.
GOOFEE is the object-oriented diagramming notation and design methodology expounded in this book. It provides a systematic approach to the analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance of projects, especially, but not exclusively, those at the "bottom end," which generally use basic tools and small, ROM-based systems.
The GOOFEE Diagrammer CASE software is a diagramming tool that allows the developer to use GOOFEE notation to construct anything from a finite state machine to an object-oriented design. It also includes various tools that help with the coding process. Because the software is generic, it may be used independently of the GOOFEE methodology.
TERSE (Tiny Embedded Real-Time Software Environment) provides underlying support for data flow and control flow systems. It is an interrupt-driven operating system designed for microcontrollers with limited RAM and ROM. Kauler wrote TERSE as a public service, and people are free to use it and further develop it as long as he is acknowledged. The disk includes TERSE51 for the 8051 and TERSE86 for the x86 processor families.
Barry Kauler is a lecturer in the Department of Computer and Communication Engineering at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia. He is the author of several books, including Windows Assembly Language & Systems Programming and PC Architecture & Assembly Language, and is a contributor to Dr. Dobb's Journal.
