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Asked: 2026-05-16T06:52:52+00:00

I’m writing a motor controller that has a couple of interfaces (buttons, Bluetooth, haptic

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I’m writing a motor controller that has a couple of interfaces (buttons, Bluetooth, haptic knobs) which is a task that is steadily growing to be a larger than I figured. I’ve tried to just go at it by starting with low-level modules (e.g. write code to talk on the I2C bus), then ones above that (code to talk to a particular device on the I2C bus…), but all too often I have to dive back down to my lower modules to handle quirks I didn’t accommodate. This either takes a long time or I get really hack-ish code.

My target is an 8-bit MCU, so bottom-up seems like I can exploit the hardware better. If I go top-down I don’t have any structure to build on or test/debug.

I’ve tried drawing up some overall diagrams and ones for particular levels/drivers, but I’m not sure how to structure them so I can be very systematic about it and avoid missing the odd signal that needs to go up through 2-3 layers.

I guess this is the reason for a CS degree? I’m an electrical engineer 😛

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    It sounds like you are on the right track. Sometimes no amount of planning is going to prevent you from having to redesign or refactor parts of a system at a later date. Try some of the following tips:

    • Keep your code in modules separated by logical functions.
    • Do not duplicate code, instead design reusable methods for shared functionality.
    • Try to avoid the temptation to add hacks for special cases. Eventually this will become unmaintainable. Instead, adjust and refactor small sections as soon as possible. Trying to do a large re-design at the end will be more difficult.
    • Don’t try to over-design the system from the start, as you might just be wasting your time when you get to the actual implementation.
    • Keep the lower levels as simple as possible, then build more advanced capabilities on top.
    • Document your functions and write a some unit tests, especially after adding complex conditional statements.
    • Try to catch errors as high up the stack as possible. For example doing input validation and checking return values. This will make debugging easier.
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