nes-proj/doc/mainpage.txt
Nicolas Tsiftes 3166e29af7 Various documentation updates, including a modified main page and
the removal of various obsolete platforms and modules.
2017-09-22 16:00:55 +02:00

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/**
\mainpage The \os Operating System
\os is an operating system for resource-constrained devices in the
Internet of Things. \os contains a low-power IPv6 communication stack,
\ref uip "uIP". uIP is a small RFC-compliant TCP/IP stack that makes
it possible for \os to communicate over the Internet. The system runs
on a variety of platforms based on energy-efficient architectures such
as the ARM Cortex-M3 and the Texas Instruments MSP430. The code
footprint is on the order of a 100 kb, and the memory usage can be
configured to be as low as 10 kb.
In 2017, \os started as a fork of the Contiki operating system with
the purpose of making a system focused on standard low-power IPv6
communication in the IoT. Another important goal is to have a regular
release cycle and enhanced documentation. Although both systems at the
beginning have many common interfaces and modules, we expect them to
diverge considerably in the future.
Most of \os is written in the standard C programming language, with
the exception of some architecture-specific code that may use compiler
extensions and assembly language. The source code is available as open
source with a 3-clause BSD license.
\section mainpage-getting-started Getting started with \os
\os is designed to run on many different \ref platform "platforms". It
is also possible to compile and build both the \os system and \os
applications on many different development platforms.
\section mainpage-building Building the \os system and its applications
The \os build system is designed to make it easy to compile
\os applications for either to a hardware platform or into a
simulation platform by simply supplying different parameters to the
<tt>make</tt> command, without having to edit makefiles or modify
the application code.
See \ref buildsystem
\section mainpage-tcpip Low-Power IPv6 Networking
One of the main features of \os is a resource-efficient IPv6 network
stack designed for lossy and low-power networks. The network stack
comprises protocols such as IPv6, TCP, UDP, DNS, RPL, CoAP, LWM2M, and
Websockets. Beneath the IPv6 stack, \os supports IEEE 802.15.4
wireless communication with Time-Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH).
\sa \ref uip "The uIP TCP/IP stack documentation"
\sa \ref tcpip "The \os/uIP interface"
\sa \ref psock "Protosockets library"
\section mainpage-threads Application Development
Applications in \os are implemented using processes, which are based
on a programming abstraction called Protothreads. Protothreads is
essentially a lightweight stackless thread-like construct, allowing
highly efficient context switching.
A process is scheduled by an event-driven kernel after an event has
been sent to the process, either from the kernel of from another
process. Such events can be the result of a timer expiring, a sensor
value changing, or a network packet having been received. Once
scheduled, each process is responsible for yielding control back to
the scheduler without executing for too long, which is typically done
by waiting for an event. Alternatively, applications can also use the
\ref mt, which supports a more traditional thread model with one stack
per thread.
\sa \ref process "Processes"
\sa \ref pt "Protothreads"
\sa \ref etimer "Event timers"
\sa \ref ctimer "Callback timers"
\sa \ref mt "Optional multi-threading"
\section mainpage-lib Libraries
\os provides a set of convenience libraries for common programming
functionality, including memory management and data structures.
\sa \ref memb "Memory block management"
\sa \ref heapmem "Heap memory allocator"
\sa \ref list "Linked list library"
\sa \ref ringbuf "Ring buffer library"
\sa \ref trickle-timer "Trickle timers"
*/