Atmel START, online boilerplate generator - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: alexanderbrevig
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2015, 02:06:49 pm
content: This is a tool that configures your microcontroller based on settings prescribed in a GUI:http://start.atmel.com/Here's a video:I kind of like it

author: matseng
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2015, 03:45:26 pm
content: Nice. But it would be even nicer if it didn't just support ATSAMxxxxx CORTEX-M0+ mcus...

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2015, 01:51:26 am
content: AVRFreaks are not impressed. 100 files to support one time and a uart. 24 function calls to initialize 8 bits of GPIO. Etc.http://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/thoughts-new-atmel-start-toolhttp://www.avrfreaks.net/comment/1675036#comment-1675036

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2015, 02:43:52 am
content: Quote from: westfw on October 02, 2015, 01:51:26 amThat is insane. The ultimate output of any I/O configuration tool should just be a set of register values.If anything, the software engineering industry is only now starting to get out of the overabstractionism trend, but it seems the hardware industry is going into it at full speed.

author: matseng
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2015, 04:24:58 am
content: So should we do a crowd sourced online tool for configuring microcontrollers ourselves? It might actually become a good resource....

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2015, 06:26:42 am
content: Quote from: westfw on October 02, 2015, 01:51:26 amIs it actually building from ASF components, or is this something new? I looked at it a bit but haven't gotten around to looking at the expected files, and at a glance it looks different.In any case, this is exactly what I was afraid of. What really boggles my mind is that a lightweight set of basic abstraction layers that would be smaller, faster, and VASTLY easier for their customers to usewould have been less work for Atmel to create!

author: obiwanjacobi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2015, 06:51:06 am
content: Quote from: westfw on October 02, 2015, 01:51:26 amI'd rather have a 100 files than only a few with a couple of thousand lines of code per file.It is a real art to write a software framework that encapsulates and abstracts at the right level. Choose it wrong and you need 24 calls to do something that can be done in one or two - or features of the MCU are unavailable or awkward to work with.Thinking that you can do better can be dangerous. The number of use cases you have to think about can be staggering - especially when you want to support multiple MCU families. You need a different mindset than the one you used for programming your projects. Can you do that? And even when you get something off the ground - there will be always those that do not agree with the design choices you made. That is no different for Atmel or other (HAL) frameworks that have been discussed here...

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2015, 07:33:02 am
content: QuoteProbably not. I'm not convinced that it CAN be done well enough to justify the effort. I'm not convinced that it SHOULD be done.Perhaps we're all much better off with well-written datasheets andexamplecode, instead of (theoretically) abstracted libraries that need an additional layer of documentation.

author: obiwanjacobi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2015, 01:11:07 pm
content: Quote from: westfw on October 02, 2015, 07:33:02 amCertainly good documentation is a bonus in any case. But why do you doubt it can be done. What is so different about this problem that you think it cannot be solved?I think it can be done - but that can be ignorance...