Flow Design for Embedded Systems [Paperback]

Barry Kauler (Author), Kauler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1998

Barry Kauler's Flow Design is a technique for applying object methods to embedded real-time systems, and for designing powerful objects for real-time systems. The companion disk to this text provides both GOOFEE and TERSE, an interrupt drive operating system.

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: Publishers Group West; 2 Pap/Dsk edition (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087930555X
• ISBN-13: 978-0879305550
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,307,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last, a good diagramming method for Software., March 25, 1999

By 

Elwood C. Downey "WB0OEW" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Flow Design for Embedded Systems (Paperback)

Electrical Engineers agreed decades ago how to communicate their ideas with universally agreed upon schematic diagrams, while Software Engineers still flounder around with various ad-hoc diagramming methods or have religious wars over any of several touted schemes. As a practicing SE for more than 20 years, I am still on the lookout for one grand software diagramming technique that combines the best of data flow, control flow, state machine, structured and object oriented methodologies.

With this one book, I have found it. At first, the author's informal first-person style seemed amateurish. But I became more tolerant as he admitted to the same shortcomings I have yet tend to cover up for the sake of professional image. Then moving beyond the informal writing style and bizarre names he gives his creations, I discovered the GOOFEE software diagramming technique. It is absolutely wonderful. It can completely capture all aspects of a software system in a 2-D diagram. Its scope can range from high-level design through automated code generation as desired. And yet it is so simple, with only a dozen or so basic symbols, I can actually remember it after putting the book down!

I highly recommend this book to any practicing SE or programmer looking for a diagramming tool to capture and communicate their ideas.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Brace yourself for confusion, November 15, 2001

By 

Lyle Thompson "bit wrangler" (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flow Design for Embedded Systems (Paperback)

Although the premise of the book is very attractive, I found the author's presentation to be absolutely horrible. I have already spent around 8 hours reading and rereading the first few chapters trying to figure out exactly how the notation works. What is missing is a flow chart or state machine describing the exact logic behind the iterative nodes, but instead you get a rambling, scattered, informal description of their operation. The author repeatedly admits to the informality of the description, but since the result is still unintelligible, I find it hard to forgive. It seems as though the author's great excitement for the subject matter caused him to rush through the basics to get to the conclusions. Because I'm still hooked on the premise, however, I'll keep checking the website to see if a lucid specification of the GOO notation ever arrives.