Hårdvaruregistren

Hårdvaruregistren, also known as hardware registers, are special memory locations within a computer's hardware. They are used by the processor to communicate with and control various peripheral devices and internal components. Each register has a specific address and is designed to hold a particular type of information, such as control bits, status flags, or data being transferred.

When a program needs to interact with hardware, like a graphics card or a network interface, it sends commands or data to these hardware registers. The processor writes values to these registers to set operational parameters or initiate actions. Conversely, the hardware can write values back to registers to report its status or provide data to the processor.

The exact function and addressing of hardware registers are defined by the specific hardware device. For example, a keyboard controller will have registers for reading key presses and sending status signals, while a disk controller will have registers for managing read/write operations. Software, particularly low-level drivers and operating systems, is responsible for understanding and manipulating these registers to ensure proper hardware function. Accessing hardware registers directly is a powerful but complex operation, usually handled by specialized software layers to abstract the underlying complexity from application developers.