2011
Ruminations on C++11
Filed under Articles · Tagged with C++, Development
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Preface
//////////
//
// This is a blog about the new version of C++, C++11. It has been many years in the
// making and adds lots of new features to the C++ language. Some of those features
// are already supported by commonly used compilers, a description of these features
// follows.
//
// As you can see, this 'blog' is a bit unusual. It's actually a C++ source code file
// annotated with lots of comments. So it can be read on its own, with the code being
// examples of the things being described, or it can be viewed in Visual Studio (VS)
// 2010, built and even executed. With a few minor adjustments pointed out along the
// way, it can also be built using GCC and executed on whatever system that it is
// installed on.
ISO26262 – Catching up with the train
Filed under Articles · Tagged with High Integrity Solutions, Safety, Testing/Assurance
I used to think that the automotive industry is far in advance of the rail industry. If you go back to the 1930s and compare cars with trains, they come up a very inferior; slower, less comfortable, less reliable, ‘cruder’! Come up to date and trains have changed very little. A significant change from coal to diesel or electricity but apart from that very little has changed. Even the sandwiches are the same!!
Now look at the modern car! The range of engine designs, comfort and safety features and infotainment is huge. The modern car resembles the 1930s offering only in the number of wheels! The colours, performance, styling and number of body types to suit every lifestyle lead one to believe that the automotive industry is leading the world in design and development.
So I was extremely surprised to hear that formalising the development of safe software lags the rail industry by some decades.
Another year over!
Filed under Company News · Tagged with Company News
Zircon’s year end is the end of September and it’s a good time to review what we have done (and what we haven’t done) over the last twelve months.
In general it has been an up and down year. As a result of the current economic climate, and the resulting clamp down on spending, the level of business was down on our previous record setting year, but was enough to keep us going!
The year started on a high note with our 3D Train Graph reaching the finals of the IET Innovation Awards. This was not only a great technical achievement but also a very enjoyable night out with our guests.
Using Crayons to Paint a Masterpiece!
Filed under Articles · Tagged with ARTIST, Test Solutions, Testing/Assurance, Traffic/Travel
How we use ARTIST on our own projects to save time and money!
We are currently developing a hardware interface application for a customer’s Traffic Controller project. The hardware interface is responsible for controlling access to the various hardware elements in the system, including traffic lights, traffic detectors, control panel switches and indication LEDs. The application also provides traffic lamp monitoring readings to client applications. It runs on an ARM based system, running Linux.
Clients interact with this application via a TCP/IP socket connection and a bespoke protocol, defined in our customer’s interface specification. The team have been testing the application via a bespoke client simulator that used hardcoded fixed messages, which require the tester to enter a series of numbers in order to mimic the sequence of messages that a connecting client would send. The responses to these messages, which are received as HEX values, had to be analysed to ensure that they are correct. This is a time consuming process that requires an experienced engineer’s time!
New Brochure: Traffic/Travel Solutions
A short pdf brochure that describes our Traffic/Travel Solutions capabilities.
New Brochure: High Integrity Solutions
Filed under Brochures · Tagged with High Integrity Solutions
A short pdf brochure detailing our High Integrity Solutions capabilities.
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