[Steve2381]

Hi all.

Its a bit of an odd question... with many answers I would imagine.

I have a fairly new Pioneer Sat/nav system in my car and I wondered what these units are programmed with? They must have a processor inside with the required program/s loaded.
What language do you think they would be in?

I expect they are pretty impossible to re-program (I know C++), but I still would like to know.

Thanks
Steve

 

[daddles]

If I had to guess, I would say a mixture of C and assembler. Early units didn't have much ROM space, so they probably did things in assembler for speed and efficiency. When the marketroids started going hog wild with features, they likely changed processor architectures over time and an embedded shop will be much better off if most of their code is in vanilla C as opposed to assembler.

You'd get the best response by calling the companies themselves. If you can get past the PR droids and get in touch with a development engineer, such information isn't terribly proprietary and they'd likely tell you. You can also search the literature, as no doubt many R&D groups have bragged about their technical developments (e.g., places like HP used to publish the HP Journal to show off their technology and get exposure for employees).

 

[Steve2381]

Yea, that is along the line of what I thought too.
Not sure what would be involved in hacking one of these units. I just find so many things wrong with the programming, I would really like to have a go at altering it.

 

[daddles]

Well, welcome to the club -- this happens to all programmers. Most product designs are poor from a user interface and convenience standpoint, mainly because the software designers aren't typically users of the product (or, when they are, management won't shell out the cash to have the thing rearchitected). My canonical example is the Kindle. It's a pretty nifty hardware design, but the software features and user interface features are amongst the most poorly designed of any product I've ever used. It's fair for plain reading, but a PITA to do most other things with. My big gripe is that there's no way for the user to change anything. Fortunately, the thing was a gift -- I wouldn't spend my own money on such a thing.

 

[Steve2381]

Mmm..
The user interface on this sat/nav is just appalling. Clearly never tested while actually driving,
It draws your attention away from the road far more than it needs to just due to simple bad design and programming.

Take Ipod track selection. You touch the screen and flick it up or down to scroll the track names, yet it is also single touch to select... so 9 times out of 10, you select the track you touched rather than move the list. Why the hell not make selection double tap?

The up/down buttons on the steering wheel... they search FM radio stations, but do nothing towards Ipod control. Why not make those scroll up/down the names list, and therefore remove the need to even leave the steering wheel.

Radio station select. Suffers the same touch issues that the Ipod does... sometimes it selects it, sometimes it searches.

Oh well... would be nice to hack in and alter the code.