Posts Tagged ‘Making Embedded Systems’

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Oh! They love me! They really love me!

June 14, 2012

One of my first reviews for Making Embedded System came on the O’Reilly site and it was a not a good review. I mean, it was a bad review (and it wasn’t particularly well written).

It was somewhat heartbreaking to have put all that work into a book and then have someone bash it. And he hadn’t really read it (one of the things he said was terrible was, funny enough, something I was saying was terrible if only he’d done more than flip through it).

Ouch. But I try (try really, really hard sometimes) to learn from mistakes and to be as mature as possible about such things. I totally agree with this author’s posting: “The biggest enemy of our careers is not bad reviews, but obscurity.” As with my view on ebook pirating, I may not like bad reviews but I do want my book to make ripples. I am not yet to Scalzi’s delighting in one star reviews but I’d almost (almost, maybe) have bad reviews than nothing. Of course, Scalzi’s examples are much funnier than mine. And he’s got a thicker skin from years of doing this.

But as we were gone on our cross country trip, two more reviews were added to my book on Amazon, heaping my collection of 5-star reviews there to a lucky 7.  (Which isn’t to say that 8 or 9 or 53 would be unlucky, feel free to add more, I won’t mind.)

Now, I will admit that I know Ken Brown, one of the Amazon reviewers. And when he said, “Well, is there anything else I could do?” after tech reviewing it (and doing an awesome job with the review), I immediately asked if he could pretty please write a review.

Still, seven people like my book enough to take the time to write a review in Amazon. I’m sometimes surprised by what they liked most about it. I mean, check this out from James Langbridge, a guy I’ve never met (though we exchanged emails after he entered some errata):

This book is full of technical detail, but more importantly, it is full of wisdom. I had fun reading this, and to the question would I recommend this book to a friend? I already have, to junior members of my team.

I like “I had fun reading this”… such a wonderful thing to say about a technical book. And this:

I would say that the most valuable contribution this book makes is in explaining the design integration of hardware components and basic EE-technologies to a software developer who has not yet experienced the design of a sophisticated embedded system. – Ira Laefsky

And then on Goodreads, someone said exactly what I could have wished for:

I wish this book was around when I started working.

Because that is the book I wrote: the one I wish I had when I started.

 

 

 

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Trip souvenir: Boston Public Library Card

May 7, 2012

If you had a book (a book that you wrote), where would you want to see it? I mean, other than the New York Times’ bestseller list.

A few weeks after it came out, my father-in-law found my book on a store shelf near Harvard. He took a photo of it, making me quite happy.

Still, it was disappointing that most bookstores don’t carry my book, it is only available for special order, which is silly. And, while tempting, I did not follow through on my idea to call all of the Barnes & Nobels, order a copy and, when it arrives, say nevermind so that it goes to their shelves for people to admire (and buy).

It was exciting to see my book, to actually touch it, especially for the first time. But that was a little anticlimactic because many of my friends got a copy before I did (from Amazon). O’Reilly gave me several author copies. I picked out one for myself and gave a couple to family (most of my supportive and generous friends bought their own copies). What to do with the other copies?

I love the library. It is a place where you can borrow books. As a child, it was an all-you-can-eat mental buffet, my family could never have afforded even a hundredth of the books I blew through as soon as I got my own card. It was a child’s card initially but I snuck into the big library (“waiting for my mom” got me in with the security guards). I’d go pick up my pile from the kid’s ara and then read the adult books (ok, the adult encyclopedia, the guards still kept track of me). I suspect my love of Wikipedia comes from these formative years.

Since I love the library, I donated copies to my two local library systems. They were humorously confused by the donation. See, I had to find the right person to donate it to, the acquisition librarian, so it wouldn’t go into the neverending fundraising used book sale.

The exchange for the Santa Clara system happened in person. The librarian was a little confused. Even as I was handing her the books, she wanted to make sure that I didn’t want to be paid for them. And then she explained that these would go into the system and be available to all the libraries, not the just the Campbell one. (Yes, of course!)

But one sad (ok, ecstatically happy) thing is that my book is always checked out. Of both libraries. And each library got extra copies beyond the two each I gave them. I have never managed to pop in and get a picture of my book with the library labeling (and the Dewey decimal stickers!). I do check, especially when I’m bummed for one reason or another… knowing people have checked out my book is spirit lifting.

I had hoped that we’d see my book in the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Despite common wisdom, they do not carry every book. One book that the Library of Congress does not have is (cue dirge music) my book. What is this nation coming to?

Actually, if I’d known and planned ahead, I might have tried to give a copy of my book to the LOC. That would have been spiffy but I didn’t bring any copies on the trip because I believed the myth (that LOC carried everything). The congress people would do well to understand the problems associated with creating robust embedded systems, it is an important subject for all our future.

Sigh.

However, when all seems lost, at its darkest, there are other opportunities. In this case, Boston Public Library. You may have seen their lions:

Boston public library carries my book! But not for checkout… How odd, I don’t know if it is better that it is a reference only book and they are afraid it will be stolen or worse that people don’t get to take it home to truly enjoy it. In order to check my book out from BPL, you have to fill out a form, get a library card to finish filling out the form, and then hand it to the nice lady who will go retrieve the books from behind a “Staff Only” door.

Once you have the book, start by admiring the Dewey decimal and BPL signage. There are many marble topped tables and other beautiful desks that lend gravity to the library.

Ok, once you’ve appreciated the awesomeness of my book in the library, in the Boston Public Library, now it is time to take the book on a wee adventure (remember: you can’t leave the library). You shouldn’t run through the library giggling and squeeing. It is frowned upon though if you run fast enough, no one will catch you so it is ok. Be sure to take pictures in well known locations though you may need a confederate. Just in case, be sure you can run faster than the confederate.

Please send me your pictures with my book, particularly in famous locales, especially in famous libraries. It is really damn cool.
You may want to write a book just so you can try this out. Awesome fun!

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Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

May 4, 2012

“I think your book must be doing well, it certainly is well pirated.”

When C said this about Making Embedded Systems, I suppose I was pleased. I mean, it is true that there are many e-copies of my book on the major (and minor) pirate sites. I find it kind of irritating that people can get my book without paying me or O’Reilly. But I doubt anyone gets my book for free without understanding that they are doing something wrong.

Most of the people who would buy my book write software for a living. If they don’t understand how copyright impacts them in the long term, then they aren’t smart enough to write software for long.

So most of the readers who pirate my book are either too dumb to realize it is wrong or too broke to care. These people wouldn’t have bought my book anyway. I don’t feel like I’ve lost out much because of them. And if they get something out of my book, if they manage to get some smarts. solve a problem or find a better way to create embedded systems, well, hey, that is ok. It is ok with me and it is ok with my publisher.

I think there may be a few more folks out there, the ones who want to try it out, to sample the book. I bet they get the book to sample, use it and keep meaning to pay but fail out of laziness. Those are the only group of pirates that truly annoy me.

I knew when I went with O’Reilly that electronic copies of my book with be available without DRM. That was a little scary. I spent a long time writing this book.

People who write technical books don’t do it for the money. We do it because we want to share what we know and ignite the passion of other people (or just make it easier for others than it was for us). Still, almost any one who writes a technical book (especially for O’Reilly) could have made more money doing the work instead of writing about it. For me, it certainly would have been easier. And I didn’t need it as resume filler, my resume is fine, thanks.

So I wrote the book to share. now I just need to share nicely. Today is the Free Software Foundation’s Day against DRM. To celebrate, O’Reilly is offering all of the DRM free ebooks (and that is all of them) for 50% off. But let them tell you:

	In Celebration of *Day Against DRM*
	Save 50% on ALL Ebooks & Videos

	Having the ability to download files at your convenience, store them
	on all your devices, or share them with a friend or colleague as you would
	a print book, is liberating, and is how it should be. If you haven't tried
	a DRM-free ebook of video, we encourage you to do so now. And if you're
	already a fan, take advantage of our sale and add to your library.    

	For one day only, you can save 50% on all O'Reilly, No Starch, and Rocky Nook
	ebooks and videos. Use code: DRMFREE

	Ebooks from oreilly.com are DRM-free. You get free lifetime access,
	multiple file formats, free updates. Deal expires May 4, 2012 at
	11:59pm PT and cannot be combined with other offers.

Go buy my book. Go buy someone else’s. Have a ball! We really appreciate it when you buy our books. And we are happy to share our knowledge, experience and passion with you.

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Making Embedded Systems

April 16, 2012

I wrote a book.** It is called Making Embedded Systems published by O’Reilly Media. (If you aren’t into technical books, that is like saying I played center field for the NY Yankees; O’Reilly is awesome and I’m completely chuffed to have written for them.)

It is a technical book for software engineers who want to get closer to the hardware or electrical engineers who want to write good software. It covers all sorts of embedded information: hardware, software design patterns, interview questions and lots of real world wisdom about shipping products.

cover of book

People seem to always have the same few questions about writing the book so I thought I’d answer the frequently asked questions about my experience.

How long did it take you?
About a year from start to finish, from the time I put in my proposal to the when it was on the shelves.

How long did it take to write?
Many years ago, I did NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month) novel and got accustomed to spending a few hours writing and setting word count goals for myself. The discipline was excellent but writing a technical book was much different, there was a lot more self-editing and research.

So, six days a week, I got up at 7am and worked on the book until at least 10am. If I was in the zone (or it was Saturday and I didn’t have other commitments), I’d work on it until noon or 1pm. On Sunday, I usually spend a couple hours reading over the chapter to make sure the information was presented cohesively and not like six blog posts. I did this from November through May, then put the same time into the figures, technical review, editorial review, and putting together webinars to support the book.

Did you work at the same time?
Yes, I do embedded systems consulting so I worked about 3/4 time while working on the book. I gave up a lot of weekends and spent most of my “free” time with friends talking (obsessing) about the book. Afterwards, I was a little burnt out (which is why it took me six months to start a blog).

Did you get to choose the animal on the cover?
No. I really wanted a dinosaur since that is the reputation of embedded systems engineers. Then I wanted a bacteria because embedded systems are ubiquitous. There is a list of the O’Reilly animals though it hasn’t been updated lately. Happily, they did respect my wishes to be divorced from the previous O’Reilly embedded system software book. It had ticks on it. I’m so glad I didn’t get an icky insect. I’d have been ok with butterflies but ticks? Shudder.

What is the cover animal?
A great eared nightjar. It is a hawk. I love how he’s fierce and fluffy at the same time. And the serious expression with the silly ear tufts is pretty representative of the book with its combination of serious information interspersed with jokes.

Great-Eared Nightjar (Eurostopodus macrotis)

How well is it selling?
I don’t know. I’ve nothing to compare it against. I mean, I know what BookScan tells me about how many copies get sold but they only sample a small part of the market.

It usually is in the top 10 embedded books on Amazon (but that isn’t the largest of categories: if someone buys a couple copies, my book rockets to number one until someone buys a copy of another embedded systems book).

And I know how many copies O’Reilly sold between when it debuted in mid-November to end of December (about a thousand). That seems like a lot of books so I’m pretty much thrilled.

Why did you write a book?
An embedded software colleague was building a library for his junior engineers and asked for recommendations for books that would help them understand how to write good embedded software. Since his team works as consultants, they deal with many processors, with and without operating systems. We couldn’t find a single book that did even 25% of what he wanted. He suggested I write one. And somehow by the time I finished laughing, I agreed.

Are you going to write another book?
I should say no. I mean, I couldn’t write a book about something I wasn’t passionate about. And it took so much time. It is just too much work. But then someone asked about a book that really has me intrigued… it would be essentially the same chapters as my book but would come with a board and some sensors, actuators. Each chapter would help the reader implement something that explains the concept. For example, instead of the strategic how and why of state machines in Making Embedded Systems, it would be more tactical showing a problem and an implemented solution, something a sixteen year old hobbyist could follow. I’m incredibly intrigued by this idea. (Though I’m ok if someone else does it first.)

Sideways glance Did you pay to have it published?
No. O’Reilly is a real publisher. They even paid me an advance and I will get royalties as it sells. The advance didn’t cover but about a tenth of what they would have paid for my contracting rate. On the other hand, the book acts as an excellent advertisement for our consulting company so I suspect I’ll make it back over time.

Any other questions? I did do a couple interviews with much better questions: one with Gretchen Giles at on the O’Reilly Radar and one for Server Side.

** I’ve written two books, actually, but the other is a novel, self-published, and my mom only gave it four stars on Amazon. It was written as part of NaNoWriMo, then edited over a year. In it, someone with my resume ends up trapped in space, saves the world from terrorists and then gets rescues by her physicist-drummer-embedded systems engineer husband. While that all sounds like true-life stuff, it is totally fiction. Though there is a nice discussion of the ASCII hex codes.

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