Editing Embedded software (section)

{{Short description|Computer software written to control machines not typically thought of as computers}}
'''Embedded software''' is computer [[software]], written to control machines or devices that are not typically thought of as computers, commonly known as [[embedded systems]]. It is typically specialized for the particular [[electronic hardware|hardware]] that it runs on and has time and memory constraints.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stroustrup on C++ for embedded (bottom p.2)|url=http://www.stroustrup.com/abstraction-and-machine.pdf|access-date=9 December 2012}}</ref> This term is sometimes used interchangeably with [[firmware]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Emilio|first=Maurizio Di Paolo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NixnBAAAQBAJ&q=This+term+is+sometimes+used+interchangeably+with+firmware.&pg=PA60|title=Embedded Systems Design for High-Speed Data Acquisition and Control|date=2014-09-01|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-06865-7|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:SMSC LAN91C110 ethernet chip.jpg|thumb|A close-up of the SMSC LAN91C110 (SMSC 91x) chip, an embedded [[Ethernet]] chip]]

A precise and stable characteristic feature is that no or not all functions of embedded software are initiated/controlled via a human [[Interface (computing)|interface]], but through machine-interfaces instead.<ref>{{cite web|title=I.C.S. on embedded software|url=http://www.ics-control.com|access-date=22 July 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322031258/http://ics-control.com/|archive-date=22 March 2013}}</ref>

Manufacturers build embedded software into the electronics of [[cars]], telephones, modems, [[robot]]s, appliances, toys, security systems, [[pacemaker]]s, televisions and set-top boxes, and [[digital watches]], for example.<ref>{{cite web|title=Embedded Systems Methods and Technologies|url=http://www.computer.org/portal/web/certification/Embedded-Systems|access-date=9 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203328/http://www.computer.org/portal/web/certification/Embedded-Systems|archive-date=29 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> This software can be very simple, such as lighting controls running on an [[8-bit]] [[microcontroller]] with a few [[kilobytes]] of memory with the suitable level of processing complexity determined with a Probably Approximately Correct Computation framework<ref>{{citation|title=Intelligence for Embedded Systems|first1=Cesare|last1=Alippi|publisher=Springer|year=2014|isbn=978-3-319-05278-6}}.</ref> (a methodology based on [[randomized algorithm]]s). However, embedded software can become very sophisticated in applications such as [[Router (computing)|router]]s, optical network elements, [[airplane]]s, [[missile]]s, and [[process control]] systems.<ref>http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/publications/papers/02/embsoft/embsoftwre.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>