What is a real-time system and what are the major components that make up a real-time operating system (RTOS)? These are the questions we'll be answering in the first section of this book. This prerequisite knowledge will serve as a foundation we'll build upon with working examples and hands-on exercises in later chapters. If you're already familiar with another RTOS, you can probably skim or skip this section.

This section comprises the following chapters:

• Chapter 1, Introducing Real-Time Systems
• Chapter 2, Understanding RTOS Tasks
• Chapter 3, Task Signaling and Communication Mechanisms