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Hal

Hal is a term that can refer to several distinct concepts in names, literature, and computing.

Hal as a name: Hal is a masculine given name or nickname, often used as a shortened

HAL 9000: In science fiction, HAL 9000 is the sentient computer from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel and

Hardware Abstraction Layer: In computing, HAL refers to the Hardware Abstraction Layer, a software layer that

form
of
Henry
or
Harold.
It
has
historical
and
literary
usage,
notably
as
Prince
Hal
in
Shakespeare’s
history
plays,
where
the
character
is
the
heir
who
becomes
King
Henry
V.
Stanley
Kubrick’s
film
2001:
A
Space
Odyssey.
The
name
stands
for
Heuristically
programmed
ALgorithmic
Computer,
and
it
is
sometimes
noted
as
a
deliberate
shift
of
IBM
by
one
letter
in
homage
to
the
computing
industry.
hides
hardware
differences
from
higher-level
code.
By
providing
a
uniform
interface
to
hardware,
a
HAL
helps
improve
portability
and
maintainability
of
the
operating
system
and
its
drivers.
Different
platforms
implement
HALs
to
adapt
the
same
software
to
various
processors,
devices,
and
configurations.