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Device Drivers

Mac OS X implements an object-oriented programming model for developing device drivers. This technology is called the I/O Kit. It is a collection of system frameworks, libraries, tools, and other resources. This model is different from the model traditionally found on a BSD system. If your code needs to access any devices other than disks, you use the I/O Kit. I/O Kit programming is done using a restricted subset of C++ that omits features unsuitable for use within a multithreaded kernel. By modeling the hardware connected to a Mac OS X system and abstracting common functionality for devices in particular categories, the I/O Kit streamlines the process of device-driver development. I/O Kit information and documentation is available at http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeviceDrivers/Conceptual/IOKitFundamentals/index.html.

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