software-engineering-problems.md

<- Tilbake

Software Engineering Problems

• Syntax
  • Read and control digital and analog I/O
  • Print to the Serial Monitor and Serial Plotter
  • Read from the Serial port
  • Create and use global and local variables
    • Why use constants?
  • Use if statements
  • Use while loops
    • Using while loops with millis() to do something during a delay
  • Use for loops
  • Create and use functions
  • Basic use of Arrays
  • Pass-by-reference
• Concepts
  • Edge detection
  • Debouncing
  • Non-blocking code
    • Why is this important?
    • Substitute for delay
    • Substitue for while loops
    • Substitue for for loops
    • State machines
  • Mapping function
  • Enums
    • Why use enums?
    • Using an enum with a mapping function to relate enum values to state-dependent values
    • Using an enum for a finite state machine
  • Parsing and Serialization (Json and CSV)
    • The value of using standardized protocols
      • Sending multiple values over a text based protocol
      • Abstraction and normalization of transmitted data
      • Removing challenges that would otherwise cause some features not to be implemented
    • Demonstrate the drawbacks of using a text based protocol
      • Overhead causing a slower system
        • Optimized Sender
        • Optimized Receiver (Batch read)
    • Used for
      • Serial Port (SPI)
        • Send
        • Receive
      • Esp Now
        • Send
        • Receive
      • I2C
        • Code will be nearly identical to Serial (SPI) send and receive
      • MQTT
        • Code will be identical to Esp Now send and receive
• Communication
  • Serial (SPI)
  • Esp Now
  • I2C
  • MQTT
  • WiFi (Esp32)
  • Node-Red (Webserver)
• Dicipline
  • Finding documentation and example code
  • Debugging and reading other peoples code
    • Debugging broken logic
      1. Locate the entrypoint of the program
      2. Track down the flow of the program function by function
      3. Add Serial.println() to see where the code fails
    • Debugging error messages
      1. Locating the error message in the stacktrace
      2. Considering whether the error might be caused by a different line than the error message suggests
      3. Googling the error
      4. Recognizing what solutions may look like
         • Typically in the form of a question at the top of a forum post, where the useful info is usually branded as "solution" or upvoted by many.
         • Recognizing what solutions do not look like so time is not wasted
         • Skimming through the solution to see if it makes sense
  • Following style guides and conventions
    • Setting expectations for what different code looks like
      • Easier to make assumptions to save time
      • Being able to trust variable and function names and naming schemes to inform about what the code does
  • Code splitting
    • Function names should in most cases be enough to understand what the code does
      • If not, split the function into smaller functions
  • Solving one problem at the time
    • Demonstrate conplex problems that are not possible to solve for a novice without practicing this principle
  • Testing code early and thoroughly
    • Ensure one has a solid foundation before continuing, to avoid having to go back and fix bugs later in a more complex system.
• Architecture
  • Structs
    • What they should learn
      • Why use structs?
      • How to use structs for grouping variables and functions
      • When not to use structs
        • Highly interconnected code
    • What they should not learn
      • The term "Object Oriented Programming"
      • Constructors
      • Member visibility (Private and Public)
      • Inheritance
      • Overriding
      • Overloading
      • These concepts make up all the complexity of OOP, as well as all the pitfalls. They will not be needed in this course.
  • Creating functions that update globals, instead of returning the result
    • This makes the code more scalable (Mostly applies to the Arduino framework)
  • Subdividing problems and creating isolated systems to deal with them one by one
    • Blink Controller
    • Motor Controller