Real-Time Embedded Multithreading: Using ThreadX and ARM (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Although the history of embedded systems is relatively short, the advances and successes of this field have been dramatic..." (more)
Key Phrases: event flags group, memory block pool, thread entry functions, Ready Thread List, Slow Thread, Suspended Thread List (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Use the industry's most popular RTOS/processor combination to develop embedded applications that are small, fast, reliable, and deterministic. Beginning with a discussion of embedded and real-time concepts and terminology, this book uses a specific demon

Use the industry's most popular RTOS/processor combination to develop embedded applications that are small, fast, reliable, and deterministic.

About the Author

Edward L. Lamie is a Professor Emeritus of Computer Science. His areas of academic emphasis during his 31 years in higher education have been in the areas of software engineering and operating systems. He was also the founding chair of computer science departments at Central Michigan University and California State University, Stanislaus. Ed continues to teach occasional graduate-level courses and conducts hands-on RTOS training classes for Express Logic, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: CMP (January 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578201349
• ISBN-13: 978-1578201341
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,066,450 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Literal reprint of Express Logic's free documentation for ThreadX, October 11, 2007

By	Malleus Maleficarum - See all my reviews

All you need to know, Dear Reader, is that this book is -- literally -- a selective reprint of Express Logic's ThreadX User's Guide that is available for free download on their site. Differences? It's pared down a bit and a perfunctory chapter on ARM hardware is tacked on. What did the author actually contribute to this book? His 'PhD' for the cover?

Also, nearly one third (100 out of 350 pages) of this book is padding: an API reference, a more comprehensive version of which is, yes, again, available for free download from Express Logic.

Bottom line: I CANNOT in good conscience recommend this book: first and foremost because 99% of its content is excerpted verbatim from the freely available ThreadX User's Guide and the remaining 1% is covered better elsewhere (for example, in _ARM System Developer's Guide_ by Sloss -- a fundamental, extensive, and very well-written book).

PS. A side observation: I've never seen a good book from this publisher, CMP (formerly R&D). I just thought I'd share.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-balanced Introduction to RTOS Concepts and ThreadX, March 13, 2005

By	tedrain (Poway, CA) - See all my reviews

This book provides a solid introduction to embedded kernel mechanics and a detailed discussion of the ThreadX operating system. The first five chapters present a light overview of real-time operating system concepts, the ThreadX kernel and the ARM processor. The next seven chapters focus on classic issues faced by kernel designers, including critical sections, mutual exclusion, synchronization, inter-thread communication and memory management. Another chapter discusses ARM exception handling, and the final one provides a complete implementation of a real-time system in C using ThreadX system calls to illustrate the utility of an embedded kernel. The book concludes with a number of detailed appendices documenting the ThreadX API.

Each fundamental RTOS concept (eg mutual exclusion, memory management) receives a balanced, detailed treatment that explores generic OS issues and corresponding ThreadX-specific services. The text is straightforward and non-academic, aimed more at engineer-practitioners than at students of operating system theory. Essentially this is a technical discussion of ThreadX, demonstrating that the kernel provides clean solutions to classic real-time design challenges.

Another review indicates that padded appendices contain API reference material which can be freely downloaded from a vendor website. Given that the appendices account for appx 25% of content, I agree that buyers should be informed. I also think that the appendices are very helpful to those of us who prefer the convenience of self-contained material, and who prefer to avoid the inconvenience of downloading/printing/handling an additional document. All-in-all I like the API section and consider this a matter of personal preference.

I have one minor quibble with the equal emphasis given to ThreadX and ARM in the title. The book is clearly RTOS-centric, much more concerned with operating system concepts than with details of the ARM core. The light ARM material mainly illustrates the coupling of ThreadX to a particular processor architecture, and readers should not expect an ARM technical guide.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good reference and introduction in one package, February 17, 2005

By	S. Katz (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was very pleasantly surprised with how well this book performed at 2 very different levels. It provided a very simple introduction to Real Time programming (with a definite focus on the ThreadX OS) as well as being a very useful reference for an experienced ThreadX user.

I have been using ThreadX for several years (although not on the ARM processor) and I wanted the book to help with training some new programmers as well as to evaluate the option of using the ARM on a new project. I was impressed as to how well the book helped to achieve these goals.

The book gives a clear explanation on how the various Operating System services are used and where they are appropriate. The demonstration version of ThreadX was very useful for playing with the concepts and getting a "hands on" feel for how things worked without having to deal with all the details of how to get a program running on an embedded system.

I also liked the description of how the system is implemented on the ARM processor, it gave enough detail that I could understand the interaction with the hardware and made it much simpler to introduce a non-ARM architecture as part of the training.

As useful as the book was for the introduction and training aspect, I have noticed that it has also become my standard ThreadX reference at work, which was not what I expected. While the ThreadX documentation does have more detail I have found it much simpler to use this book and I have only needed to refer to the "official" documentation once or twice since I got this book. I have also found the demonstration OS very useful for prototyping and testing.

The only group that I think may not find this book as useful a reference, is the knowledgable embedded developer who is not working with ThreadX and wants to find out more about the OS or about the ARM processor. For this audience there is probably insufficient depth and more detail than they require, but for anyone who is entering the field or is working with ThreadX regularly I would highly reccomend this book.