DEV Community: Daniele Rodrigues dos Santos

Deployment nightmare - como medir o sucesso do seu release - parte 1

Daniele Rodrigues dos Santos — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 19:35:34 +0000

Trabalhando por 15 anos com desenvolvimento de software, já enfrentei diversas sextas-feiras, antes do deployment de um release em produção, com frio na barriga e com a certeza que meu final de semana certamente estaria perdido.

Muitas vezes seguíamos todo o processo de desenvolvimento,com longos períodos de teste mas não tínhamos confiança de que tudo ocorreria bem após a implantação do software.

Após alguns anos de experiência trabalhando em diversas funções em TI, posso dizer que é possível ter um final de semana tranquilo e implantar software com confiança em produção.

Um artigo apenas não seria suficiente para discutir todos os fatores e processos que envolvem um deployment por isso pretendo escrever uma série de artigos sobre o assunto.

O primeiro passo é o diagnóstico. Comece estabelendo algumas métricas. Sugestões:

Tempo de desenvolvimento do release: deve incluir desde do início do desenvolvimento até implementação em produção;
Número de defeitos encontrados em pré-produção;
Número de defeitos encontrados em pós-produção; 4.Taxa de rollback: (total de deployments revertidos)/(total de deployments). O ideal é que esse número seja zero.

Você pode acrescentar mais métricas mas acredito sejam um bom começo. Elas ajudarão a entender o cenário atual e são base para entender se as mudanças que serão aplicadas aumentam ou diminuem a eficiência.

Antes de implementar qualquer mudança no seu processo, eu recomendo colear esses dados em pelo menos 5 deployments.

No próximo artigo eu discutirei sobre branch strategy.

Até breve,

Why I love embedded systems

Daniele Rodrigues dos Santos — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 18:03:03 +0000

Hi all,

Since my childhood, I've had a deep fascination with machines. I recall attending LOGO classes and running programs on LEGO toys, a delightful experience that eventually led me to pursue a career in computer engineering during college.

After graduation, I embarked on a rewarding journey as an embedded systems developer. This career choice perfectly suits those who enjoy blending their software and hardware knowledge.

However, I must admit that working on embedded projects is no easy task. The challenges can be diverse, ranging from hardware issues to software glitches, or sometimes a combination of both. Yet, the joy and fulfillment that come from witnessing people using a product you helped create are simply indescribable.

One of the most captivating aspects of embedded systems is their omnipresence. They are found in an array of devices, including point-of-sales systems, smartwatches, self-service totems, airplanes, automobiles, IoT devices, and much more. As an embedded systems developer, you get the extraordinary opportunity to have an impact in almost every corner of modern life.

Aside from the emotional rewards, it's essential to consider the vast potential of the embedded systems market. With estimations suggesting it will reach a value of 173 billion US dollars by 2032 (compared to the current 98 billion US dollars), there is a tremendous amount of work awaiting skilled developers in the coming years (source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/embedded-system-market-predicted-garner-205200598.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADUf2q_aElNoDzxcyIllMJudn9oOKHNQJMOQtCNW2WBO6M3QiItxzQQuF4yhVIhGjgvB6GqnfArk_UPg27ZQ1HjEWinvf3vznthA7Dpmz4QDKpHvenc65tUVzbfEGmw4C6wHs6pBgF6sbldEnsAeITkpU9fusYqPf8Lj4RDHVe7Z).

If you're considering starting a career in embedded systems, I highly recommend beginning with a solid foundation in C/C++ programming and gaining a thorough understanding of electronic and hardware concepts. Development boards like Arduino and Raspberry Pi can prove immensely helpful in facilitating the learning process.

Wishing you all a happy and fulfilling journey in the world of embedded systems! :-)

Continuos Deployment in Embedded systems. Is it possible?

Daniele Rodrigues dos Santos — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 14:20:32 +0000

Hi all,

I've worked developing and shipping software to embedded systems for 10 years and I testified the long software development lifecycle for this kind of application.

I want to point some challenges to implement continuous deployment in embedded systems:

Real-Time Constraints: Many embedded systems operate in real-time environments, where timely and deterministic responses are critical. Continuous Deployment should consider the impact of changes on real-time performance and ensure that the system's real-time capabilities are not compromised.
Resource Constraints: Embedded systems often have limited resources in terms of processing power, memory, and storage. This necessitates careful optimization and thorough testing to ensure that new code changes do not exceed resource limits.
Firmware Updates: Deploying changes to embedded systems can be more complex than deploying web applications or server-based software. Firmware updates may require special procedures, bootloaders, and mechanisms to prevent bricking the device.
Testing Challenges: Automated testing in embedded systems can be more challenging due to hardware dependencies and the need for specialized testing environments.

Based on my experience, I think that is very hard to implement CD for embedded systems, anyway, almost everything in tech is possible.

Do you code for embedded systems? Do you think that is possible to implement CD for embedded systems?

Cheers,