C++ for Embedded Systems

Who should attend?

Software developers with C experience having to develop object oriented applications in C++ for embedded systems.

Pre-requisites:

A good working knowledge of C.

Duration:

5 days ( including practical exercises )

Course Description:

This course introduces the programming language C++ for use in embedded systems, as well as the fundamentals of the object oriented way of programming. It has been designed for experienced C programmers, who do not only want to learn the syntax of a new programming language, but also want to understand how object-oriented features work and what their advantages are over traditional C programming. Assessments of the language features with respect to memory consumption and execution time detail the benefits and the pitfalls of the object oriented approach, thus allowing the students to develop powerful solutions using the scarce resources of embedded systems efficiently. Additionally, this course illustrates how hardware devices can be mapped into objects for a seamless integration in embedded object oriented applications. The associated practical exercises are performed on an ARM-based target board.
The contents of this course are based on the C++98 standard which is currently the most widespread language standard in use. The language features marked with C++11 require the use of a compiler supporting this newer language standard. Therefore these elements of the course can be booked optionally. The features of the newer language standards C++11, C++14, C++17 and C++20 are covered in the course "Modern C++"

Course Outline:

Non-Object-Oriented Language Features and I/O

Data type bool
References
Function overloading
Default parameters
Namespaces
Dynamic memory management
Operator overloading
Input/output (cin/cout)
Range-base for-loop (C++11)
Scoped Enumerations (C++11)
nullptr (C++11)
Automatic type deduction with auto (C++11)
constexpr (C++11)
Alias type definition with using (C++11)

From Struct to Class

Data elements, attributes
Member functions, methods
Static / non-static elements
this-Pointer
Access rights public and private
Class

Constructors and Destructors

Default constructor and copy constructor
Global / static objects and arrays
Objects containing objects
Uniform initialisation (C++11)
Direct initialisation of data elements (C++11)
Constructor delegation (C++11)

Operators as Class Members

Assignment operator
Subscript operator
Type cast operator

Inheritance and Aggregation

Base class and derived class
Benefits of inheritance compared to aggregation
Modelling the base class functionality
Impact on construction and destruction
Access right protected
Protected and private inheritance
Constructor inheritance (C++11)

Virtual Functions and Polymorphism

Static and dynamic linking
Virtual functions
Abstract functions and abstract classes
Interfaces
override and final (C++11)

Assessment of the Language Features

Object model
Object creation and deletion
Temporary Objects
Inheritance
Virtual functions
Dynamic memory management

Mapping Hardware Devices into Objects

Traditional solutions
Struct-based solution
Hardware device as a C++ object
Interrupt handling