Making Embedded Systems
by Elecia White · first published 2011
77% recommend23% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Practical, software-focused guide to embedded firmware design, covering project structure and patterns and practical topics like reading datasheets; suited to existing programmers moving into embedded work.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…http://www.amazon.com/Version-Control-Git-collaborative-deve... 30- http://www.amazon.com/Embedded-Software-Primer-David-Simon/d... 31- http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Embedded-Systems-C/dp/1565... 32- http://www.amazon.com/Making-Embedded-Systems-Patterns-Softw... 33- http://www.amazon.com/Operating-System-Concepts-Abraham-Silb... 34- http://www.amazon.com/Performance-Preemptive-Multitasking-Mi... 35- http://www.amazon.com/Design-Operating-System-Prentice-Hall-...…
on “I’m writing my own OS” ↗If anyone has a book similar to this for embedded - I'd love to know. I've recently been reading Elecia White's Making Embedded Systems which is the closest thing to this book I can think of.
on “A Fresh Graduate's Guide to Software Development Tools and Technologies (2012) [pdf]” ↗…start with an idea. Do you want to do sensing, audio, LED art, a tiny game console, a robot? That’ll determine the kinds of hardware you should get and will direct your learning. I can also recommend Making Embedded Systems by Elecia White.
on “Low level is easy (2008)” ↗Maybe try Making Embedded Systems by Elecia White, more of a software eng into firmware dev but it won't be C++ but maybe teach your LED to blink before you teach a robot to pathfind.
on “Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy” ↗Making Embedded Systems by Elecia White https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/making-embedded-systems... https://github.com/eleciawhite/making-embedded-systems Practical Electronics for Inventors, Fourth Edition 4th Edition…
on “Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn about embedded software and EE?” ↗I like Elicia White’s Making Embedded Systems because it covers a lot of practical stuff like how to read a datasheet. It’s a good book for existing programmers. A lot of electronic books struggle to find balance between super easy projects, very…
on “The Secret Life of Circuits” ↗There are some good books in there for embedded/firmware engineers. "Making Embedded Systems: Design Patterns for Great Software" and "Multi-Core Embedded Systems" look interesting.
on “Recommended Reading List for Developers [pdf]” ↗…classics: Stevens, Kerrisk, Love. I found Chris Simmonds’ book to be a good general intro to embedded programming; it has much info which also helps with embedded system design. I’ve also picked up ideas from Making Embedded Systems by White or Embedded Systems Architecture by Noergaard. Application design refers to individual applications running on an OS. These are the typical MVC or layered architecture styles. The official OS…
on “Becoming a Systems Architect” ↗If you're just getting started, I agree with others here to just get something working. You'll naturally bump into the limitations of whatever structure/design patterns you're using. Making Embedded Systems[0] is a great book that goes over some basics about how to structure a low level coding project. It's focused on embedded projects, but the principles will still apply. It's been very useful for me to…
on “Ask HN: Good practices for my first C project” ↗…Some books I collected: - Applied Embedded Electronics: Design Essentials for Robust Systems by J. Twomey. It goes over the whole process making a device and what knowledge would be required for each. Making Embedded Systems, 2nd Edition by E. White is a nice complement. - Embedded System Interfacing by M. Wolf describes the signals and protocols behind everything. It's not necessary as a book, but can help understand the…
on “Practical Guide to Bare Metal C++” ↗Making Embedded Systems: Design Patterns for Great Software 1st Edition by Elecia White I have not read the book but listen to their podcast https://embedded.fm/ http://makingembeddedsystems.libsyn.com/rss
on “Ask HN: Best books to learn embedded systems?” ↗I first encountered it in Elecia White's book Making Embedded Systems, but the attribution is anonymous and whom it's attributed to may have heard it elsewhere.
on “Phased Array Microphone (2023)” ↗…for the field. I love to write code, and the managers at my workplace force us to use IA all the time. For this, I'm starting to learn about embedded systems with a STM32 Nucleo 64 board and the books "Making Embedded Systems" and "Practical Electronics for Inventors". The objective is to learn and practice a lot, so I can land a job in the near future. --- Outside of IT, I started watching The Bear, that re-ignited my…
on “Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)” ↗