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Struggle Continues to Plug Embedded Programming Gap

By EE Times
May 7, 2012
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EE Times

Critics say the growing embedded programming gap can be attributed to university curriculums for introductory computer science courses, which recently have focused more on Java than other languages. "Many universities went to Java because ‘that’s where the jobs are,’ but ironically may have produced a generation of programmers with over-specific but superficial skills who are now losing jobs to overseas competition with broader and deeper talents," says New York University professor Robert Dewar. "To be blunt, adopting Java to replace previous languages used in introductory programming courses, such as Pascal, Ada, C, or C++, was a step backward pedagogically." In response, Industry expert Michael Barr recently created the Embedded Software Boot Camp, which focuses on skills such as controlling hardware in C or C++ and writing more formal device drivers. The most recent embedded boot camp attracted programmers from Belgium, Canada, Mexico, Turkey and the United States, illustrating the lack of emphasis on embedded programming. Explanations for why university computer science departments have de-emphasized teaching embedded programming skills based on the C language include the popularity of Java programming and the lack of job opportunities for computer science graduates with embedded programming skills.

From EE Times 
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Abstracts Copyright © 2012 Information Inc. , Bethesda, Maryland, USA 

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