Practical Driver Abstractions

Jan 5, 2026 · Embedded

Good driver abstractions keep hardware details localized while staying efficient. Aim for simple interfaces that are easy to test and reuse.

Separate HAL from device logic

Keep low-level register access in a thin HAL layer and build device-specific logic on top.

Use dependency injection

Pass interfaces for I/O and timing to make drivers testable without hardware.

Minimize dynamic allocation

Prefer static buffers and fixed-size queues for deterministic behavior.

Small, explicit APIs outperform complex abstractions in embedded systems.