ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses programming languages for high performance embedded computing. It considers the state of programming languages for high performance embedded systems. Consequently, embedded system programming places a greater emphasis on achieving repeatable high performance than is typically found in desktop or scientific computer programming. The emphasis on low-level programming in embedded systems does not solely arise from the need to achieve performance. The first generation of programming languages is considered to be machine language, that is, coding the actual numbers the machine understands. The second generation of programming languages is assembly language. In general, all third-generation languages provide users with constructs to express iteration or looping, in which a given sequence of code is executed multiple times. Object-oriented programming packages data and the operations on those data into a single entity called an object. Exceptions are errors experienced by programs during execution. The Java language, developed at Sun Microsystems, is focused on improving application programmer productivity.
