I've been designing embedded systems for more than 17 years. During that time, I've noticed that some of the pieces always seem to keep coming back. I have concluded that 80+ percent of the code for an embedded product seems to be similar to the previous product. I always seem to need to read analog and discrete inputs, output control signals on analog and discrete outputs, provide some form of user interface and thus, I need to read/scan keys on a keyboard and put information on a display device of some sort (7-segment numeric and/or to an LCD module). Most embedded controllers seem to have an asynchronous serial port (i.e., UART, Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) and interfacing to a laptop seems like a natural thing to do. I also find myself needing to trigger events when a certain amount of time expires, and to keep track of the date and time. Although it was fun and challenging to develop some of these modules at one point in my career, having to do the same thing over again for each new project has become mundane and even unpleasant. I find that the real challenge is to develop application code that makes my products unique. Over the years, I've written fairly generic modules to accomplish some of the functions mentioned above. As I used these modules, I optimized and enhanced them, giving me a good collection of Embedded Systems Building Blocks.

As Steve McConnell mentions in his book, Code Complete, "The single biggest way...