Abstract
Software development guidelines are a set of rules which can help improve the quality of software. These rules are defined on the basis of experience gained by the software development community over time. Software antipatterns are a powerful and effective form of guidelines used for the identification of bad design choices and development practices that often lead to poor-quality software. This paper introduces a set of seven state machine antipatterns for the model-based development of real time embedded software systems. Each of these antipatterns is described with a pair of examples: one for the antipattern itself and a second one for improved, refactored solution.