Nios® II Software Developer Handbook

ID 683525
Date 8/28/2023
Public
Document Table of Contents

7. Developing Programs Using the Hardware Abstraction Layer

This chapter discusses how to develop embedded programs for the Nios II embedded processor based on the Intel FPGA hardware abstraction layer (HAL). The application program interface (API) for HAL-based systems is readily accessible to software developers who are new to the Nios® II processor. Programs based on the HAL use the ANSI C standard library functions and runtime environment, and access hardware resources with the HAL API’s generic device models. The HAL API largely conforms to the familiar ANSI C standard library functions, though the ANSI C standard library is separate from the HAL. The close integration of the ANSI C standard library and the HAL makes it possible to develop useful programs that never call the HAL functions directly. For example, you can manipulate character mode devices and files using the ANSI C standard library I/O functions, such as printf() and scanf().

For more information, refer to the book: The C Programming Language, Second Edition, by Brian Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie (Prentice-Hall).