Preface to the Fourth Edition

Preparing this fourth edition of Computers as Components makes me realize just how
old I am. I put together the final draft of the first edition in late 1999. Since that time,
embedded computing has evolved considerably. But the core principles remain. I have
made changes throughout the book: fixing problems, improving presentations, in
some cases reordering material to improve the flow of ideas, and deleting a few small
items. Hopefully these changes improve the book.
The two biggest changes are the addition of a chapter on the Internet-of-Things
(IoT) and coverage of safety and security throughout the book. IoT has emerged as
an important topic since the third edition was published but it builds on existing tech-
nologies and themes. The new IoT chapter reviews several wireless networks used in
IoT applications. It also gives some models for the organization of IoT systems. Safety
and security have long been important to embedded computingdthe first edition of
this book discussed medical device safetydbut a series of incidents have highlighted
the critical nature of this topic.
In previous editions, advanced topics were covered in Chapter 8, which covered
both multiprocessor systems-on-chips and networked embedded systems. This mate-
rial has been expanded and separated into three chapters: the IoT chapter (Chapter 8)
covers the material on OSI and Internet protocols as well as IoT-specific topics;
a chapter on automobiles and airplanes (Chapter 9) explores networked embedded
systems in the context of vehicles as well as covering several examples in safety
and security; and the embedded multiprocessor chapter (Chapter 10) covers multipro-
cessor systems-on-chips and their applications.
As always, overheads are available on the book Website at http://www.
marilynwolf.us. Some pointers to outside Web material are also on that Website,
but my new blog, http://embeddedcps.blogspot.com/, provides a stream of posts on
topics of interest to embedded computing people.
I would like to thank my editor Nate McFadden for his help and guidance. Any
deficiencies in the book are of course the result of my own failings.

Marilyn Wolf
Atlanta, GA
November 2015

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