3.4.4 Interacting With Hardware
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3.4.4 Interacting With Hardware

Hardware interaction is normally the domain of the operating system, the compiler, libraries, or other software-environment infrastructure. However, developers working with novel hardware features and components will often need to work directly with such hardware. In addition, direct access to the hardware can be required when squeezing the last drop of performance out of a given system. In this case, the developer may need to tailor or configure the application to the cache geometry, system topology, or interconnect protocol of the target hardware.

In some cases, hardware may be considered to be a resource which may be subject to partitioning or access control, as described in the previous sections.