low-level programming geekiness

[cjsmith]

I don't talk about work details much, 'cause either they're so minor they're meaningless, or they're something my company wants to talk about before I talk about it. But every so often there's a tidbit I can share for my geeky friends.

You know you're a real Embedded Systems Programmer when...

...you find and fix a bug that involves changing this code

var--;

to this:

disable_interrupts();
var--;
reenable_interrupts();

Extra bonus geek points if it doesn't happen reliably, doesn't happen in the debugger, and/or takes a long time to reproduce. More extra bonus geek points for not having been the one to put that bug in there in the first place.

That was late last week, and I was pretty proud of it, actually.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Umm, don't look now, but don't you already have at least one foot in management?

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

You can hose that off pretty easily. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*I* can. Farthest I ever got was team lead and I got right back outta that. But some people have a harder time shedding it!

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Well, THAT explains the massive sucking sounds from the vicinity of my left foot.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

When your toe hairs start forming into little pointy cones on either side, then worry.