Nios® II Software Developer Handbook

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

5.3.2.2.1. Hardware Abstraction Layer

The HAL provides a single-threaded UNIX-like C/C++ runtime environment. The HAL provides generic I/O devices, allowing you to write programs that access hardware using the newlib C standard library routines, such as printf(). The HAL interfaces to HAL device drivers, which access peripheral registers directly, abstracting hardware details from the software application. This abstraction minimizes or eliminates the need to access hardware registers directly to connect to and control peripherals.

For more information about the HAL, refer to the "HAL API Reference" section.