What is bare metal programming?

What is bare metal programming used for?

Our discussion of the pros and cons of the technology brings up an important question: What is bare metal programming best used for? Here are some real-world use cases to help you grasp the power of bare metal programming.

Bare metal applications run directly from the preloader, allowing full customization to increase workloads instead of a virtualization layer. In addition, this feature allows the activation and destruction of any instance at the lowest level, ensuring the bare metal code resembles the appropriate infrastructure.

Bare metal software includes higher security to ensure efficient completion of simplified operations with advanced memory handling. This automated task can yield better results over hosted hypervisors. In addition, bare metal software is more secure because it reduces the attack surface.

Features include a single-tenant environment, making it more powerful than a regular virtual machine.

1. Embedded systems

Some embedded systems run on hardware that’s not sophisticated. In fact, early versions of embedded systems were so basic that they didn’t possess the resources to run an operating system.

This lack of an OS is precisely why bare metal programming thrives in these environments. Using super loops, programmers can execute sequential tasks that can be interrupted with microcontrollers. These systems are a great fit for programmers who want to run basic, low-cost applications without needing third-party firmware or drivers.

2. Real-time systems

Real-time computing systems operate similarly to embedded systems but introduce an operating system. However, this operating system isn’t a traditional OS.

The difference between a real-time and a traditional OS is the response time. Since the real-time OS is much simpler than a traditional operating system, it has the advantage of a non-deterministic response time. This condition enables it to respond to external events in minimal time.

Programmers use real-time operating systems (RTOS) for file systems, application debugging, and device I/O protocols. It’s also an effective system architecture for applications that require selective task scheduling.

The typical nature of an RTOS is an endless loop. It has infinite loop tasks and terminating tasks, but the main loop task is continuous. RTOS are also called schedulers due to their ability to loop or end running operations depending on the stated condition.

An example of this programming statement is called a do-while loop. This kind of loop executes a specific block of code at least once and then repeats it or terminates depending on certain Boolean (true or false) conditions at the end of the code.

3. High performance computing (HPC)

Bare metal programming levels the playing field of the modern business world. Thanks to bare metal programming, organizations of all sizes now can acquire the hardware and software resources necessary for high performance computing (HPC). In other words, bare metal programming opens the door for a democratization movement in the HPC industry. Now, tackling complex world problems and questions through HPC use cases — like artificial intelligence (AI) development, predictive analytics, and financial models — is possible for a much broader range of the world’s greatest minds.