# 114: Wild While Loops

- Show: [Embedded.fm](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm)
- Published: 2015-08-19
- Length: 1h 27m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-08-19-114-wild-while-loops
- Listen: https://makingembeddedsystems.libsyn.com/embedded-ep114mp3

## Summary

Andrei Chichak, a systems developer at CBF Systems Inc., joins hosts Alicia White and Christopher White to discuss error handling strategies in embedded systems. They cover the importance of early logging, checking return codes, using asserts for development, and designing user-facing error messages that account for the end-user's context. The conversation also touches on hardware-software collaboration, watchdog timers, and the social experiment of Hitchbot.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-08-19-114-wild-while-loops#t=0) Introduction and Error Handling Basics
- [23:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-08-19-114-wild-while-loops#t=1387) User Interface and Empathy in Error Messages
- [9:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-08-19-114-wild-while-loops#t=581) Logging Systems and Return Code Checking
- [36:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-08-19-114-wild-while-loops#t=2171) Asserts, Debugging, and Compiler Optimizations
- [53:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-08-19-114-wild-while-loops#t=3202) Hardware Errors, Watchdogs, and Safety
- [1:06:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-08-19-114-wild-while-loops#t=3993) Hitchbot Social Experiment and Destruction

## Topics

- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- CBF Systems Inc. (company)
- Hitchbot (product)
- Ryerson Polytechnic (company)
- McMaster University (company)
- Clever Script (company)
- Windows 10 (product)
- Making Embedded Systems (product)
- Kindness of Strangers (product)
- Therac-25 (product)
- JDS Uniphase (company)
- Challenger (product)
- Leapfrog (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Christmas Special](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-12-22-christmas-special) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [Testing on the Host vs Target](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-09-07-testing-on-the-host-vs-target) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [Agile at Growing Hardware Startups with Matt Cole](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2022-04-19-agile-at-growing-hardware-startups-with-matt-cole) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [The Three Ways of DevOps](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2022-09-06-the-three-ways-of-devops) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [Build Pipelines Revisited](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2022-02-16-build-pipelines-revisited) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-08-19-114-wild-while-loops. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Embedded.fm.