I work for an embedded company doing web development and tool chain support for the embedded product. So I kind of have my feet in both buckets as it were.
You're right in that the main difference is control. In the embedded world the developer has total control over everything. And the specifications for the product are very well defined.
The problem with the web world is that the specs are terribly defined or ignored and you depend on APIs that constantly change. Not having to worry about memory management is great in the web world. But instead you get to worry about how your page will render in 5 different browsers that each have decided to only partially implement some standard. At least in the embedded world if a piece of HW doesn't conform to spec it's defective and gets replaced. And you know exactly what that spec is.
I don't know which is worse. Being forced to write everything yourself or depending on the sometimes mediocre code of others?
You're right in that the main difference is control. In the embedded world the developer has total control over everything. And the specifications for the product are very well defined.
The problem with the web world is that the specs are terribly defined or ignored and you depend on APIs that constantly change. Not having to worry about memory management is great in the web world. But instead you get to worry about how your page will render in 5 different browsers that each have decided to only partially implement some standard. At least in the embedded world if a piece of HW doesn't conform to spec it's defective and gets replaced. And you know exactly what that spec is.
I don't know which is worse. Being forced to write everything yourself or depending on the sometimes mediocre code of others?