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Course ECCP101
Introduction to C++ Programming for embedded application developers

Duration: 5 Days

Intended Audience

This course is designed for experienced C programmers with some experience of either embedded system or Win32 API or POSIX API programming.

Course Overview

This intensive, fast paced course enables experienced C programmers to begin writing embedded C++ software. It covers all the commonly used features of the C++ language and provides insights into the strengths and limitations of these features in the context of implementing embedded applications. Additionally, the course discusses the implemention of C++ class wrappers around C-based operating system APIs and TCP/IP socket APIs.

Practical work uses the GNU C++ compiler running under SUSE Linux. Projects are built using the traditional command-line-and-Makefile approach, and also using an Eclipse based C++ Integrated Development Environment. Applications are run on a PC running one of the standard Linux distributions, and also on an ARM9 board running embedded Linux.

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Course Benefits

Migrating from C to C++ is challenging task if the true benefits of using C++ are to be realised. Unless careful thought is given to Analysis and Design, the resulting code may be little more than C code with C++ wrappers, with little or no gain in productivity through using an object-oriented language.

The real benefits of C++ come from:

• Expertise in object oriented analysis and design
• An understanding of object oriented programming patterns and idioms
• The ability to identify and use existing C++ frameworks, or to design and implement new frameworks from scratch
• Experience with the C++ STL (Standard Template Library) and the Boost C++ libraries
• Experience with C++ oriented user interface widget frameworks such as WxWindows or Qt Embedded

On completing this course you will

• Have a sound understanding of UML Notation to specify C++ applications and an ability to think and work with objects as the underlying abstraction
• Understand polymorphism and be able to identify situations where the use of polymorphism in an embedded system environment is appropriate
• Be able to make the best use of constructors and destructors, delete and new operators and understand key idioms and patterns such as reference counting, copy on modify, and the Singleton.
• Be able to write C++ code that can access embedded system hardware and can be used, for example, in writing device drivers
• Understand the advantages and disadvantages of wrapping C operating system API calls in C++ classes
• Understand C++ exception handling and the C++ RTTI (Run Time Type Identification) mechanism, and identify situations where their use is appropriate (or not)
• Be aware of object oriented patterns and their uses
• Be aware of framework oriented approaches and their uses
• Appreciate how to realise dynamic data structures and their associated algorithms in C++
• Understand the principles underlying templates and the STL, and decide where the use of templates and the STL is appropriate
• Be aware of C++ techniques for implementing small memory systems
• Be able to build applications that combine C++, C and assembler and that reuse existing C code and libraries
• Understand basic principles and strategies for wrapping operating system API functions in C++ clases - e.g. for multi-threading and inter-process communication
• Understand the design underlying the C++ IOSTREAM classes, where to use them in embedded applications, and where to use low level I/O in the C standard library instead.

Course Contents

Brief History of C++

• Early C++ (translation of C++ code to C code)
• C++ as an extension of C
• Non object-oriented C++ enhancements to basic C
• C++ as an evolving language and the development of the ANSI C++ standard
• Possible memory and performance costs of using C++ in embedded applications
• EC++ as a subset of C++ for use in the implementation of resource constrained embedded systems

The C in C++

• Base data types (numeric char, integer and floating point types)
• Pointers and arrays
• Function prototypes and function pointers
• structs , pointers to structs and dynamic data structures
• typedefs, enums and macros
• I/O in C
• Replacing C based I/O (printf, scanf etc) with C++ based I/O

Functions in C++

• Function overloading
• Name mangling / decorating
• Mixing C and C++ code modules (use of extern C)
• Operators and operator overloading in C++

Key Object Orientated Concept - Classes and Instances

• Member variables and member functions (private, public, protected)
• Constructors and destructors
• Default constructors and default destructors
• Initialiser lists
• Derived classes
• Arrays of classes
• UML class diagram notation

More advanced aspects of working with classes and instances

• Copy constructors
• Deep vs. shallow copying
• Virtual functions and virtual classes (compile time vs. run time binding)
• Implementing dynamic data structures using classes (linked lists, binary trees, etc)
• Friend classes and friend functions
• Static member variables and static member functions
• Templates and the Standard Template Library

A more detailed look at input and output in C++

• The C++ iostream classes
• Overloading the insertion and extraction operators for use with user defined classes
• Reading and writing files
• Basics of object and data persistence

Dynamic memory management

• The new and delete operators
• Overloading the new and delete operators
• Application specific memory management

Exception Handling

• The concept and structure of exceptions and exception handling
• Throwing an exception
• The try block
• Catching an exception
• Re-throwing exceptions
• Catch-all handlers
• Exception specifications
• Exception handling implemention mechanisms
• Appropriateness of exception handling in embedded applications
• Alternatives to the C++ exception handling mechanism

Templates and their uses

• Data parameterised collections of classes and functions
• How C++ compilers handle templates
• The C++ Standard Template Library - a brief overview
• The Boost C++ libraries - a brief overview

Namespaces - an extra level of scoping

• usefulness of namespaces in large projects and when re-using code

Mixed C and C++ applications and extern C

Mixed C++, C and assembler applications

• Calling assembler from C
• Calling assembler from C++

Overview of EC++

• Benefits of C++
• Limitations of C++

C++ and Embedded and Operating System C API issues

• Patterns and idioms for accessing hardware from C++
• Patterns and idioms for bit manipulation in C++
• C++ embedded system programming idioms and patterns
• Polling techniques for synchronous I/O
• Interrupt driven techniques for I/O
• Implementing a low level interrupt handler in C++ for an operating-system-less application
• Implementing a simple timer-driven scheduler in C++
• Idioms and patterns for wrapping C operating system APIs in C++ (Inter Process Communication and Task Management)
• Thread, semaphore, pipe, task, timer, monitor and shared memory classes
• Implementing a simple timer-driven scheduler in C++
• Device driver class hierarchies

Compiler Specific Extensions to C++

• Accessing Special Function Registers (SFRs)
• #pragma s
• Compiler-specific non-ANSI C++ extensions