At the time I wrote this code there was a lot of talk about Java specific processors. Ultimately that was a mistake because Moore's law meant the x86 architecture (and JIT technology) got faster more quickly that anyone could get chips to market.
These days I am about as far from embedded systems as you can get. I write Ruby on Rails code for aha.io. There is a lot of satisfaction in seeing the perfect waveform on your oscilloscope when the assembly code finally works - but these days I think there is much more satisfaction in being able to crank out a complex algorithm with some elegant Ruby and have it being used by customers before going home for dinner.
These days I am about as far from embedded systems as you can get. I write Ruby on Rails code for aha.io. There is a lot of satisfaction in seeing the perfect waveform on your oscilloscope when the assembly code finally works - but these days I think there is much more satisfaction in being able to crank out a complex algorithm with some elegant Ruby and have it being used by customers before going home for dinner.