This year’s Embedded Masterclass event takes place in Cambridge on 7th May and Bristol on 12th May. The event focusses on the latest developments in embedded systems development and is free for embedded systems engineers and managers working with embedded technologies.

It’s a fun event without the hard-sell of some other events we exhibit at and over the years we’ve taken part in the event we’ve grown to know most of our fellow exhibitors pretty well.

The event is also a great way of networking with fellow engineers from the local area – we’re expecting our best ever turnout this year – so why not invest a day out of the office to find out where the industry is heading? If you do visit then please come and say hello, I’m always keen to hear feedback on the blog.

More details of the masterclass are available here.

If you’re fed up with the time, costs and hassle of going to London (or further) to hear from the best software speakers then a new series of software talks we’re launching in Cambridge could be of interest.

The first session will take place on the evening of Thursday November 20th at Downing College, Cambridge.

Steven Kelly – Moving from Coding to Model-Driven Development Everybody would like the productivity benefits of modelling with full code generation, but the upgrade path from coding to modelling seems a closely guarded secret. This session will demystify Domain-Specific Modelling, open the lid on the OMG’s MDA, and shine a light on Microsoft’s Software Factories. We will show which bits of Model-Driven Development (MDD) work, which might work, and which don’t, and explain where they can be applied – and where not. Most importantly, we will show the steps to define your own modelling languages and generators to start using models effectively, road-tested in dozens of projects over a decade.

Steven is CTO of MetaCase and co-founder of the DSM Forum. He has over fifteen years of experience of tool building and consultancy in Domain-Specific Modelling. As architect and lead developer of MetaEdit+, he has seen it win or be a finalist in awards from SD Times, Byte, Net.Object Days, and Jolt Productivity. He has co-authored a book and over 20 articles in journals such as Dr. Dobb’s, and regularly speaks at events like Code Generation and Software Architect. Steven is a member of IASA, on the editorial board of JDM, and a full-back in the Finnish 3rd division.

Danilo Beuche – Get started with Software Product Lines – Key success factors and what to avoid Organisations as different as embedded automotive suppliers and investment banks face the challenge of producing portfolios of similar-but-different software applications. However, many of them struggle with mindsets, processes and tooling that is more appropriate to one-of-a-kind system development without realising that there is a better way…

This talk introduces Software Product Lines – a strategic approach to developing such interdependent product families that has been shown to yield major organisational and financial benefits. Based on extensive experience introducing product lines into a wide variety of organisations Danilo will discuss the key success factors in introducing product lines and highlight the pitfalls to avoid.

Danilo works for pure-systems GmbH, a specialist provider of tools and services for the application of Software Product Line technology. As well as managing the company Danilo also consults extensively on Product Line Engineering, mainly for clients in embedded industries. Danilo has been a tutorial presenter, speaker, workshop organizer and panellist at conferences such as AOSD, ISORC, SPLC and OOPSLA. He is also author of many articles in scientific journals and software development magazines. Danilo has a PhD from the University of Magdeburg for his research applying Software Product Line Engineering to embedded operating systems development.

We’ll be charging a modest entry fee for each talk to cover costs but more details of this will appear on the event web site shortly when booking opens.

We’re also interested in finding out who you’d like to hear from at future events. Contact me through Software Acumen with your ideas.

The next Cambridge Wireless Software SIG event on 20th November in Cambridge, UK will consider the problems of developing for the hundreds of handsets on the market. The Software SIG is championed by me and Peter Hazlett of Symbian.

Current opinion says that the ‘one-size-fits-all’ model just isn’t attainable at present, leaving mobile developers with the challenge of producing several diverse product variants.

This diversity arises from several sources:

• Differences between handsets.
• Operator-specific requirements.
• Market differentiation e.g high-end vs low-end products.
• Legal differences (e.g different laws on gambling).

This afternoon event will outline the scale of the problem, look at ways of addressing it and consider whether the future holds more of the same.  Don’t miss out on your opportunity to share your views, ideas and comments and cultivate new ideas from the speakers at this event.

Here’s details of the three talks at the event:

John Scott, Senior Director of Engineering, Qualcomm
“Diversity and Platform Reuse: Using common platform code to unlock innovation”
We will use BREW Mobile Platform as a case study to show how a common platform approach can increase rather than decrease product diversity. We will look at issues faced by handset manufacturers and application developers and how a platform can free them to focus on differentiating aspects, rather than being buried in a mountain of increasingly complex mobile application software. We’ll share some of the hard lessons learnt and current limitations, as well as success stories.

Danilo Beuche, CEO Pure-Systems GmbH
“Running Mobile Software Development as a Product Line – 2 Fast 2 Furious?”
Running a Software Product Line (SPL) can seem like running an ocean liner: a bit slow in the beginning, running full steam ahead after a while, but then taking an age to slow down and change the heading of the ship if something unexpected happens. However, being agile and able to respond rapidly to changing market needs is at the heart of mobile software development.

This talk will introduce the Software Product Line (SPL) approach, discuss when and how SPL fits with mobile development and present some possible approaches for combining the two.

Steven Kelly, CTO MetaCase
“De-clawing diversity with Domain-Specific Modeling”
As mobile developers you’ve had to make the right decisions about new technologies more often than  most: rejecting those that are duds, waiting on those that are still more hype than substance,  but quick to start using those that really work. It’s no surprise then that the mobile industry has been one of the first to show widespread use of Domain-Specific Modeling: early adopters have  consistently seen productivity improve by hundreds of percent. With DSM, applications are specified once at a high level of abstraction, and code generators take care of producing all necessary versions for different handsets, networks etc. Since you own the generators, you can easily adjust for new platforms or their versions: no interminable waiting for tool vendors to release an update.

In this talk you will see how DSM works to tackle diversity in the mobile space, and learn how you can join those already using it and reap the same benefits.

Events are FREE to Cambridge Wireless Members. Tickets for non-members are £150.00 plus VAT.  To join Cambridge Wireless, and attend all future events for free please visit: www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/sign-up

I’ve been asked by the organisers of this year’s Embedded Systems Show (ESS) to put together a conference stream on Code Generation and related tools and technologies.

The plan is to run 6 or so sessions introducing model-driven software development, describing the main approaches such as UML/MDA and DSLs, looking at some of the available tooling e.g. Eclipse Modelling Tools and covering a case study or two from an embedded or real-time system development.

I’ve also proposed that the day is wrapped up with a panel session provocatively titled 10 years from now no-one will write code by hand. Hopefully there won’t be too much bloodshed on the conference room floor…

Keep an eye out here or on the ESS web site for more details as the programme is developed. Although the sessions will have an embedded focus, non-embedded developers should also be able to get a lot out the day.

Elektronik automotive magazine has published an article describing work done at Daimler Chrysler on managing diversity in the automotive domain.

A basic problem automotive systems developers are facing is the large number of possible vehicle functions and options due for example to differences in target markets, vehicle type and engine capacity.

This variability can only be handled economically through strategic reuse and this requires a formal model for the variability inherent in the product line.

The article describes an approach to this using the pure::variants specialist solution for managing variability and product lines in conjunction with the widely-used Simulink® toolset.

Here’s the blurb:

A characteristic of today’s motor vehicles is a wide range of variants with slightly different functions. Since this variability has to be reflected in the software development models, it is essential that there are concepts for systematically handling the variability of functional models. Differentiating between the central and model specific variability information allows uniform handling in Simulink and creates an explicit representation of distributed model variability.

I couldn’t have said it better myself…

The original version of the article is in German but an English version can be downloaded from the Software Acumen web site here: Handling functional variants in Simulink® models (PDF 898kb opens in new window)

Simulink is a registered trademark of The Mathworks Inc.

I ran a variant of my talk When Good Architecture Went Bad at the Embedded Masterclass recently. This is a free, one day event with technical talks and a small exhibition aimed at embedded engineers.

This year there were actually two Masterclasses, one in London and one in Bristol and the combined attendance was around 140 – despite problems on the London railways conspiring to keep a few people away.

A couple of questions that came up during my sessions:

• Do real-time software systems suffer from architectural decay less than other types of software? – I have a gut feel that no, they decayed just like other software systems despite more rigourous verification methods being used in many cases. This is because architectural decay comes from change – change in functionality, change in staffing, change in tools and technologies and I don’t feel that in general real-time systems are less prone to these types of changes.
• Does UML help? – Not being a big fan of UML I passed this one onto Kevlin Henney who happened to be attending the Bristol Masterclass. His view – yes and no. Yes if you use UML to document what you have implemented (and so communicate the architecture), no if you rely on a UML document to act as a guide for implementation. (apologies to Kevlin if I misremembered this)

Being in Bristol also gave me the chance to meet up with some of the local ACCU members. We went to the Old India restaurant in the city’s former stock exchange – great food in a great setting with great company. Thanks to Tony Barrett-Powell for arranging this at short notice.

We’ll be taking part in next week’s Wireless Developer Forum event in Cambridge, UK exhibiting pure::variants the specialist toolset that helps software developers deal with the problems inherent in (mobile) device diversity.

The programme includes sessions on four main themes:

• Mobile in an Open, “Web 2.0″ world
• Business Models and Revenue Generation
• Navigating the Route to Market &
• Usability for Complex Multimedia

A few places are still available at time of writing. Hope to see you there.

The Cambridge Wireless Software SIG meets next on 11th April 2008 to consider the opportunities and difficulties of developing successful internet applications for mobile platforms.

Dave Burke an engineering manager from Google’s mobile team will speak about the development of applications including: Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube and of course Google’s new Android platform. I’m currently trying to source a second speaker from another big Internet player.

The event will be held at Symbian, Milton and starts at 14:00. The event is free to Cambridge Wireless members and tickets for non-members are £150.00 plus VAT.

Visit http://www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/events/article/default.aspx?objid=35144 for more information and to sign-up.

Today was a little quieter than day 1 of ESS.

This was a little surprising as the second day had been busier at last year’s ESS and we were also expecting increased footfall due to today’s Model-Driven Development stream at the associated IET Technical conference.

However, we did get a fair number of people visiting the stand but between visits I was able to go round and speak to some of the model-based development tool vendors about Code Generation 2008.

IIRC I spoke to ARTiSAN Software, Connective Logic Systems, Esterel, Kennedy-Carter, Mentor Graphics, No Magic and The Mathworks all of whom have some sort of MDSD capability albeit addressed at a wide variety of problem domains.

I didn’t explain earlier but some of you may have spotted the silver objects in a large bowl on the table in our stand photo:

Here Danilo Beuche of pure-systems, the developers of pure::variants, illustrates:

These silver stress balls were the must have giveaway at ESS 2007. (OK, of the 4 companies giving away stress balls these were the must have ones.)  I think we must have shifted around 60 of these things – people must be stressed in embedded land, although one visitor said it would be ideal for her dog!

In case you didn’t notice these stress balls fit in with our new ‘Relax…‘ campaign as illustrated on our stand.

However, by the end of the day we were all pretty unrelaxed. Being on your feet for a couple of days takes it out of you – although on the whole I personally find it an enjoyable experience. So, after the exhibition closed, we packed up in a surprisingly short time and headed back to Cambridge.

It will be interesting to see how ESS 2008 fares. Although it is the largest embedded exhibition in the UK it is around 20-25 times smaller than Germany’s Embedded World. I also get the feeling that an increasing number of people are simply turning to the web to find information and see product demos.

However, what you can’t get through the web is an immediate interaction with the product experts. At best this means it takes you longer to work out how the product could be used in your environment, at worst you could wrongly reject a product that could in fact be very beneficial to you. This is particularly difficult for us as variant management and software product lines are not (yet) well-known terms and so we find it hard to explain exactly what pure::variants could do for people.

With the stand in place we waited for the exhibition to open…

This year, like 2006, we’re demonstrating pure::variants the leading toolset for variant management and software product line development.

This is the UK’s largest exhibition for embedded developers by far and with an increased number of exhibitors we expected more people through the door.

By 10:30 a number of people had made it to our stand near the back of the hall. We find that people tend to work their way through the stands nearer the front first.

We generally do a short demonstration when people arrive on our stand and try and find out how pure::variants maps to their specific problems. The embedded space is very diverse and this is reflected in the types of participant that visit the stand.

Sometimes people with little software knowledge come onto the stand to find out exactly what it is we do. This seems to be a recurring pattern as companies that once produced little software are finding themselves having to produce more and more of the stuff.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are very experienced software developers who already know about the problem of variant management, have read about us and are keen to explore in great depth precisely what pure::variants can do for them and how it integrates into their overall software life cycle. Until you have a chance to find out more about the person you don’t know where in this spectrum their knowledge lies.

The press were also in attendance and I was happy to speak to a small number of editors and journalists about pure::variants and next year’s Code Generation 2008 event. There is a growing interest in model-based software development in the embedded community and hopefully our event is contributing to this as well as benefitting from it.

More on ESS 2007 tomorrow.