| slovo | definícia |
bare metal
(foldoc) | bare metal
New computer hardware, with no
operating system, compilers or even assembler.
Creating an assembler requires "programming on the bare metal", as
may
things like building boot PROMs and BIOS chips or implementing
basic
monitors to test device drivers. An assembler can then be used
to write the compiler back ends for a development environment.
"Programming on the bare metal" may also describe use of bit-level
peculiarities
of hardware for speed or space optimisation, as in {The Story of
Mel}, or
bypassing the BIOS or OS, e.g. to directly access {device
registers}.
As programming time has become more expensive and computer resources
more
plentiful, this is much rarer but may still be found in heavily
constrained
environments such as industrial embedded systems or simply
optimising for fun.
[Jargon File]
(2023-03-11)
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bare metal
(jargon) | bare metal
n.
1. [common] New computer hardware, unadorned with such snares and delusions
as an operating system, an HLL, or even assembler. Commonly used in the
phrase programming on the bare metal, which refers to the arduous work of {
bit bashing} needed to create these basic tools for a new machine. Real
bare-metal programming involves things like building boot proms and BIOS
chips, implementing basic monitors used to test device drivers, and writing
the assemblers that will be used to write the compiler back ends that will
give the new machine a real development environment.
2. “Programming on the bare metal” is also used to describe a style of {
hand-hacking} that relies on bit-level peculiarities of a particular
hardware design, esp. tricks for speed and space optimization that rely on
crocks such as overlapping instructions (or, as in the famous case
described in The Story of Mel' (in Appendix A), interleaving of opcodes on
a magnetic drum to minimize fetch delays due to the device's rotational
latency). This sort of thing has become rare as the relative costs of
programming time and machine resources have changed, but is still found in
heavily constrained environments such as industrial embedded systems. See {
Real Programmer}.
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