[Embedlets-developer] Re: Java OO Programing and Hardware Interfacing...

[Andrzej J. T. <an...@ch...>]

Ted pointed out:

> My position is that any product or tool that requires an individual to
> know both computer interfacing and object oriented Java programming is
> going to fail because the Embedded Java developer pool contains an
> estimated <10000 members and it is growing very slowly.

A good point....there are few of us on this list that can do both.

> At least half the battle here is to simply acknowledge this to be a fact
> and then figure out a way to work around it.  If even just for the sake of
> argument one accepts this position to be true, what do the possible
> workaround solutions look like?

From the software perspective (eg. get the hardware geeks on board),  
Graphical Wiring helps for simple apps.  For more complex apps (which I 
believe there will be a demand for very quickly), the more the Outpost 
Container does for the user, the less a programmer will have to know of Java.  
One way to help this process along is to have a few examples of custom 
embedlets that ship with the Outpost distribution.  

If a hardware hacker can sling C/Asm, I would be willing to bet they would be 
able to look at a simple example Embedlet and some documentation on what 
the container provides you, along with a good tutorial that walks you through 
the process of creating/modifying an Embedlet, and then hack that code to do 
something useful.  Java can be written in a pure procedural style, ignoring 
almost all OO concepts (just like C) if you want to (not adviseable, but it is 
doable).

I think a good example/tutorial would go a long way to helping this issue...and 
should be part of our deliverables very early on.

From the hardware perspective, the only thing I can think of is having a 
company like Systronix provide some standardized connectors and 
components so that the assembly of the sensors and components is more akin 
to slotting in boards in a PC or wiring CAT5/Serial/Parallel cables.  That would 
make the hardware assembly less forbidding.  I think designing and marketing 
such hardware is beyond the scope of the Embedlet list/group/project though.  
But if someone wants to get into the fabrication business, it might be a viable 
business model.

Any other thoughts?

Andrzej Jan Taramina
Chaeron Corporation: Enterprise System Solutions
http://www.chaeron.com