C++/RamSaver Class
Situation
The systems engineers at Telxon Corporation had tremendous system-level skills but little programming skill or knowledge. Telxon managers wanted the field engineers to have a working knowledge of programming issues specific to the Telxon equipment. The corporate training classes assumed that participants had previous programming knowledge. Telxon needed a class that led people with no programming skills through all phases of basic software development.
Company
Telxon Corporation (Seattle, WA)
Action(s)
Designed and taught a hands-on class that covered basic programming. This class included compiler/linker basics, IDE, C syntax, C++ object-oriented concepts, Telxon RamSaver, etc. The class started with a very simple program and continued to add increasing levels of complexity and refinements. A tremendous amount of information was packed into this intensive two-day class.
Outcome
The systems engineers understood the basic programming concepts and had hands-on experience with the concepts they learned. Engineers produced better specifications and could now perform basic programming tasks.
Benefits
Field systems engineers could provide better support for customers and the Telxon sales staff. Engineers better understood application implementation, programming issues, and pitfalls. They also more clearly understood the limitations of the handheld devices.
Details
The class included the following topics:
- Compiler setup, configuration, IDE basics, etc.
- Language syntax
- Language basics: procedures, functions, loops, variables, constants, code readability, arrays, pointers, etc.
- Object oriented programming concepts including classes, function overloading, etc.
- Procedural versus event-driven programming
- Interrupts and BIOS calls