Introducing Go's Trace Flight Recorder for performance debugging

🚀 That 2 AM debugging session that changed how I write Go forever Ever had production mysteriously hang with zero errors, flat metrics, and complete silence in your logs? I just shared my war story about the night I discovered why context in Go isn't just a "nice-to-have" — it's absolutely critical for production systems. The culprit? A single missing cancel() call. The lesson? Priceless. In my latest article, I break down: ✅ Why context is the backbone of request control in Go ✅ Real-world patterns that will save you from 2 AM debugging sessions ✅ The difference between context.WithTimeout vs context.WithDeadline ✅ Common pitfalls that even experienced developers miss. Whether you're building microservices, APIs, or any concurrent Go application, understanding context properly is the difference between a system that scales and one that mysteriously hangs at the worst possible moment. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gZ-bbn8p What's your most memorable "it was just one line of code" debugging story? Drop it in the comments! 👇 #golang #programming #softwaredevelopment #backend #microservices #techblog #codinglessons #productionissues #debugging

SEGGER’s powerful debugger and performance analyzer Ozone, long trusted by J-Link and J-Trace users, is now accessible for simulators and third-party debug probes via the GDB Remote Protocol. “After listening to requests from valued customers and developers, we decided to open up Ozone for use with their debug probes. I encourage every developer to try Ozone — it’s intuitive and powerful, and it shows you exactly what’s happening in your application. One of my favorite features is the source window, which can interleave C/C++/Rust code with disassembly, enabling users to gain maximum insight.” 💬 Rolf Segger, Founder of SEGGER ➡️ For more information, please visit https://lnkd.in/edzmxraZ #Debugger #EmbeddedSystems #JLink

Using #Segger's powerful debugger #Ozone, together with a J-Trace Pro Cortex-M probe, was a game changer that saved me a lot of time while investigating complex #STM32 scenarios in both #baremetal and #RTOS contexts — with the latter especially benefiting from the clear, dynamic, and customizable timeline view. This update, by opening its doors to a wider audience, will bring significant added value. It simply works. ⬇️

At GSAS, we know how valuable deep visibility is when debugging complex embedded systems. That’s why we’re excited that SEGGER’s Ozone is now available not just with J-Link and J-Trace, but also with simulators and third-party probes—bringing advanced tracing, profiling, and code coverage to any Arm or RISC-V workflow ! Reach out to us today to learn more! #debugger #embeddedsystems #jlink

The Day a static Variable Broke My Driver Sync Logic I recently spent hours debugging a strange bug while building a multi-instance hardware driver on Zephyr RTOS. I had two different drivers that needed to synchronize their initialization using a shared flag. One driver would signal when reset was done, and the other would wait for it. Seemed simple… until it wasn’t 😅 ⚡ The Bug I wrote a helper like this inside a header file: // sync_helper.h static inline void wait_for_ready(void) { static bool ready = false; if (!ready) { printf("Waiting...\n"); while (!ready) { /* wait */ } } } Then I included it in two .c files: // master.c #include "sync_helper.h" void master_start(void) { // do reset... ready = true; // supposed to wake up others } // slave.c #include "sync_helper.h" void slave_start(void) { wait_for_ready(); // waits forever... } 🔴 Result: The slave got stuck forever. Even though the master set ready = true, the slave never saw it. Why? Because static inside a header creates a separate copy for each .c file. So master.c and slave.c each had their own private ready flag in different memory locations. It wasn’t a race condition — it was symbol scope. 😅 🛠 The Fix I changed it to a proper global: // sync_helper.h #pragma once extern bool ready; static inline void wait_for_ready(void) { while (!ready) { /* wait */ } } // sync_helper.c #include "sync_helper.h" bool ready = false; Now all .c files see the same ready variable, and the synchronization works perfectly. 💡 Lessons Learned static inside a header = one copy per .c file (not shared) extern in header + one definition in .c = single shared global This kind of bug looks like a race condition but is really a linkage issue ⚙️ Embedded Takeaway In embedded development, how your code links is just as important as how it runs. A few misplaced static keywords can silently break cross-driver logic and cost you hours of head-scratching. 💬 Have you ever fought an “invisible global” like this? Drop your war stories below Let’s save each other some debugging pain! #EmbeddedSystems #ZephyrRTOS #CProgramming #Firmware #Debugging #RealTime #RTOS #Linker #StaticVsExtern

In embedded automation, failures are goldmines of insight… if you know how to dig right.    At TestBot, we turn red flags into real progress.  Root-cause logging from each test agent  Crystal-clear, shareable reports with full traceability  Real-time dashboards and Python-powered debugging    Whether it's a glitchy GPIO or a failing Modbus register, you’ll know exactly what broke, why, and how to fix it—fast.    Dive into our latest blog to see how TestBot helps you fail smarter and ship better.  https://lnkd.in/gixKGF4G    #PoweredByEmbien #EmbeddedTesting #TestAutomation #Debugging #QualityEngineering #TestBot #FirmwareTesting #Logging #TestReports #CIinEmbedded 

New feature in Dash: Metrics and Usage Understanding how applications behave in production is key for developers. Dash now includes built-in metrics to give clear visibility into performance and resources. Each application inside a Space shows real-time charts for: - Latency - Errors - Network traffic - Resource usage (% CPU and memory, with an easy switch between views) Metrics are displayed for the last hour, with interactive charts that make it simple to explore usage patterns and spot issues quickly. This is the first step toward deeper observability, with extended timeframes and advanced options. Dash is built to help developers not only deploy faster but also understand what’s running, when, and how. ☁ Start deploying your first application in Dash and explore the metrics to see how your resources perform: https://lnkd.in/dR82Atcy #DevTools #Dash #Observability

While profiling some CUDA code on a SLURM cluster I realized I was not working in a very reproducible way (running interactively with uncommitted code, etc.), which could become a problem down the road if I ever needed to know how a certain result was generated, so Calkit now has SLURM integration. And now my Nsight Systems and Compute reports are version controlled and traceable to the code that generated them 🙂 Data-driven decision making can fail if you don't know how the data was generated! 📃 https://lnkd.in/g8xUdgAn #hpc #nvidia #cuda

It started with 3 people, less than 1 month of prep, and one big idea: To bring Bare Metal, Embedded Linux, and Android Automotive into one connected system. After 9 months at Information Technology Institute (ITI) Embedded Systems Track, this vision became reality. That’s how 𝗣𝗔𝗢 – 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 was born: 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 who designed, coded, and integrated end-to-end. 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 working seamlessly: Bare Metal + Yocto + AOSP. 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹 • ESP32 → Fingerprint enrollment & authentication (SHA-secured). • STM32 → Potentiometers & push buttons → CAN bus data. 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘅 (Yocto on Raspberry Pi 3B+) • Custom Yocto layer meta-pao. • Qt6 cluster UI (CAN + UART data). • vsomeip integrated inside meta-pao for event-driven link with AOSP. • systemd services → auto-start Qt app, CAN/IP setup. • Central bridge node between Bare Metal & AOSP. 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 (AOSP on Raspberry Pi 5) • Custom AOSP 15 build with direct VHAL integration. • vsomeip in VHAL → event-driven bridge with Yocto. • Kotlin Passenger App:   • HVAC multi-zone control.   • Ambient lighting zones.   • Media & music playback.   • Voice assistant. (Vosk)  • GPS navigation.  • Secure OTA updates. (SHA verification)   • Child Mode → multi-user profiles via OpenCV face detection. 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 • End-to-End Security: Fingerprint + OTA via SHA hashing. • vsomeip in both Yocto & AOSP → true event-driven communication. • meta-pao: automation + services powering Yocto. • Qt6 Cluster UI: live CAN data visualization. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗶𝘁𝗛𝘂𝗯: [https://lnkd.in/dep5kJSn] 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲: To my amazing teammates who stood shoulder-to-shoulder through late nights, tight deadlines, and countless challenges — Patrick Atef and Abdallah S.Mahrous — I’m deeply grateful for your dedication, creativity, and hard work. This achievement is truly ours together. Special thanks to Eng.Youssef Nofal, Head of Embedded Systems Track, for his leadership and vision that made this possible. A special thanks to Eng.Ehab Zaki for his valuable help in the design and fabrication process, which played a key role in making our project a success. A heartfelt thank you as well to our mentors Eng.Fady Khalil, Eng.Ahmed Kishk, Eng.Romario Basem, Eng.Ismail Samy, Eng.Ahmed Abd Elghany, Eng.Anas Khamees, Eng.Karim Zidan, and Eng.Youssef Gamal whose guidance shaped every step of the journey. Finally, we deeply appreciate our guests for attending the defense and sharing invaluable feedback: Eng.Ahmed AL-Ashmawy, Eng.Muhammad Kamal, Eng.Hashem Mahmoud, Eng.Ahmed N., Eng.Mohamed Abdelhay and Eng.Ahmed Nabil Gaber. #EmbeddedSystems #Yocto #AOSP #Qt6 #STM32 #ESP32 #vsomeip #CAN #Automotive #VHAL #AndroidAutomotive #Security #SHA #OTA #ITI #GraduationProject #PAO #PowerOfThree

Today, let’s look at another powerful pattern: the Observer Pattern. What is it? A subject keeps a list of observers and notifies them whenever something changes. Why use it in embedded systems? It decouples modules. Instead of hardcoding dependencies, modules simply subscribe to events and get updates automatically. Real-world example: A button press → notifies the display, logger, and communication module. The button driver doesn’t care who’s listening — it just fires an event. This makes your system flexible, maintainable, and easy to extend just like we aim for with Singleton, but solving a different kind of problem.   💡 Where have you seen (or used) observer-like approaches in your projects?   #EmbeddedSystems #DesignPatterns #ObserverPattern #FirmwareDevelopment #SoftwareArchitecture #CleanCode #EngineeringLife