>=20
> I read up to this point and I thought "aha, a software guy"=20
> and later Alex confirmed that.
>=20

Yep.  Actually, I am a computer engineer, which is supposed to cover
both disciplines.  But all the good money is in software, so that is
where I have spend 99% of my time.  Most of my work is in .NET, Java,
and Lisp if anyone is interested.  My background is in machine learning.

> I'd categorize myself as a hardware guy and most software=20
> people I talk with seem to think that if software works once=20
> then it will always work, otherwise it's a "hardware"=20
> problem. I've been burned too many times by registers not=20
> being initialized quite correctly so that I don't just jump=20
> in and start looking for something wrong in the hardware.=20
> Separate ivory towers for the two disciplines makes problem=20
> solving more difficult.
>=20

Most software people are accustomed to not thinking of hardware at all.
All the computer science people I know consider it "beneath" them to
even consider hardware.  They like to think of their code as running on
some abstract machine that always works the same way.  I have never
heard a developer even consider the fact that something could be wrong
with the hardware.  Sometimes they blame the OS or some high level
library, when the problem is typically in their code.

In my case I am doing both the hardware and software (as are most of
us).  My approach when I have a bug is to drop the software back to the
simplist thing possible, which is usually a blinking LED.  If I still
have a problem with a blinking LED, then I tend to think the problem is
hardware.  I think that's reasonable.  Let me go on the record here,
though, as saying that the very *last* thing I would blame is the PIC or
some other established component.  For me to blame the hardware, it
would be either my crappy soldering, or something I left off the circuit
(things like decoupling caps, etc.)


Alex

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