The requirements for embedded software differ significantly from commercial PC software.

• In the field of commercial PC software development, one does not have to pay attention to resources such as CPU power, Memory, stack etc.

• Even if the PC memory is full, the PC automatically swaps parts of it to the hard disk in background and the PC program can continue, probably with reduced speed.

• There are very convenient integrated development environments with powerful run time and class libraries.

• Drivers abstract the I/Os on a high level, so that one does not have to worry about the physical characteristics.

• There is no need for an error management because the exceptions are managed by the operating system.

• Usually there are no real time requirements for the host software itself. Otherwise the real time requirements are realized by external embedded systems and the host software simply serves as a front-end.

All these amenities usually do not exist on embedded systems and, if needed, they have to be developed additionally.