Symantec C++: "Modern C++ for Bare Metal Embedded Systems"

Software for embedded systems often means writing code for a microprocessor with specs straight out of the ’80s. But that doesn’t mean you can't use the best tools that modern languages have to offer. This talk will explore embedded C++ development through the design and implementation in modern C++ of the RTPS (Real-Time Publish/Subscribe) wire protocol targeting 32-bit ARM Cortex M7 microcontrollers (but generalizable to many platforms). We will put zero-cost abstractions to the test as we attempt to fit a system conforming to a 200-page specification document onto an microcontroller with 384 KB of RAM and 2048 KB of flash. At a higher level, we will discuss the philosophy of using high-level abstractions in a low-level environment, and seek to settle the score with old-school C microcontroller hackers.

Jackie Kay is a software engineer at the Open Source Robotics Foundation, where she works on ROS 2, the next generation of the ROS framework framework for robotics development. She was a speaker at CppCon 2015 and a student volunteer at C++Now 2016. Her previous work includes Gazebo (http://gazebosim.org), the open source physics simulator for robotics, and research in thermally-constrained path planning for lunar rovers at Carnegie Mellon University.