this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2024
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Hi,

My question certainly stems from the imposter syndrome that I am living right now for no good reason, but when looking to resolve some issues for embedded C problems, I come across a lot of post from people that have a deep understanding of the language and how a mcu works at machine code level.

When I read these posts, I do understand what the author is saying, but it really makes me feel like I should know more about what's happening under the hood.

So my question is this : how do you rate yourself in your most used language? Do you understand the subtilities and the nuance of your language?

I know this doesn't necessarily makes me a bad firmware dev, but damn does it makes me feel like it when I read these posts.

I get that this is a subjective question without any good responses, but I'd be interested in hearing about different experiences in the hope of reducing my imposter syndrome.

Thanks

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[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Better than many, mediocre.

With my coworkers I've got a strange ability to pick up any language that tastes like c, and get stuff done. I'm sure I've confused our c# guys when I make a change to their code and ask for a code review, because I'll chase down quality of life improvements for myself. (Generally, I will make the change and ask if I have any unintended side effects, because in an MCU, I know what all my side effects are, multi threaded application?, not at all)

Edit: coming from a firmware view, I've made enough mistakes to realize when order of operations will stab me, when a branch is bad because that pipeline hit will hurt, and I still get & vs && wrong more often than I would like to admit.

[–] nik9000@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago

I just have to say "tastes like c" is a visceral way to say it. I approve.

[–] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

I think I'll never not make & &&, | || or = == operators mistakes. It's so easy to go over it fast and not notice the mistakes.

I like developing MCU firmwares because there is limited amout of resources and you usually have direct control of what is running when.

I feel the better than many, but mediocre in my soul. I mean, I get paid to code, so I certainly have a good enough knowledge to do so. But I have the tendancy to undersell myself.