Re: Would this be logical for embedded hardware?

[Austin Obyrne <austin.obyrne@hotmail.com>]

On Monday, July 2, 2012 12:19:36 PM UTC+1, Simon Wright wrote:
> Austin Obyrne <austin.obyrne@hotmail.com> writes:
> 
> > Can I slap my soul on the table here and say I am not at all sure what
> > an embedded system really means - as an engineer I immediately
> > envisage some piece of equipment that is triggered into action by a
> > controlling signal that then runs the equipment according to the
> > embedded sytem algorithm.  The most dramatic one I can think of is say
> > putting down the landing gear of an aircraft (that I happen to be on)
> > just when it is needed and the extremme case also of launching a
> > nuclear weapon say.
> 
> In an Ada context, "embedded system" would almost always mean this sort
> of system.
> 
> > But there is another instance also that I am not at all sure about and
> > that is an embedded program within a piece of software written in the
> > same language or even a different language - is this just a figment of
> > my imagination or does it exist - even under another name = like say a
> > task package?
> 
> This too is possible, though less common.
> 
> As an example, TclAdaShell[1] allows you to embed a Tcl interpreter in
> an Ada program. 
> 
> I've used this to provide a functional testbed; I made the
> software-under-tests's services and dependencies visible from Ada, and
> the test scripts were written in Tcl. This was highly cost-effective.
> 
> Another use might be to use Tk to implement the GUI of an Ada program.
> 
> I would never refer to this kind of system as "embedded", though.
> 
> [1] http://tcladashell.sf.net

Many Thanks - Austin