# 401: Oil and Water

- Show: [Embedded.fm](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm)
- Published: 2022-02-04
- Length: 1h 09m
- Episode: 401
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-02-04-401-oil-and-water
- Listen: https://embedded.fm/episodes/401

## Summary

Miro Samek, founder of Quantum Leaps, discusses his 'Modern Embedded Systems Programming' YouTube series and the QP framework, explaining why event-driven state machines and active objects are superior to traditional RTOS usage for hard real-time systems. He details the architectural pitfalls of mixing blocking and non-blocking paradigms, advocating for strict separation to avoid race conditions and priority inversion. Samek also explains the business model of selling commercial licenses for QP to companies that cannot use its GPL open-source version, while providing free educational content to build trust and community.

## Chapters

- [0:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-02-04-401-oil-and-water#t=6) Introduction and Lightning Round
- [3:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-02-04-401-oil-and-water#t=185) The Philosophy of Incremental Steps
- [6:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-02-04-401-oil-and-water#t=361) Modern Embedded Curriculum and Tooling
- [19:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-02-04-401-oil-and-water#t=1182) RTOS Pitfalls and Active Objects
- [28:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-02-04-401-oil-and-water#t=1710) QP Framework Architecture and Business Model
- [54:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-02-04-401-oil-and-water#t=3266) Hierarchical State Machines and Distributed Systems
- [1:00:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-02-04-401-oil-and-water#t=3636) Paradigm Separation and Final Thoughts

## Topics

- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)

## Most relevant to

established companies

## Mentioned

- Quantum Leaps (company)
- QP (product)
- Tiva C Launchpad (product)
- STM32 Nucleo (product)
- FreeRTOS (product)
- Zephyr (product)
- Microchip (company)
- Wind River (company)
- Arduino (product)
- Raspberry Pi Foundation (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Modern Embedded Systems Programming with Miro Samek](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2022-01-18-modern-embedded-systems-programming-with-miro-samek) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [QP framework with Mitch English](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2025-01-15-qp-framework-with-mitch-english) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [Real Time Operating Systems with Brian Amos](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2022-03-14-real-time-operating-systems-with-brian-amos) (The Amp Hour)
- [The Spark Gap - Episode 4](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-spark-gap/2014-07-06-the-spark-gap-episode-4) (The Spark Gap)
- [An Interview with Jack Ganssle (2nd)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-04-20-an-interview-with-jack-ganssle-2nd) (The Amp Hour)

## 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/2022-02-04-401-oil-and-water. 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.