The Pico SDK provides the headers, libraries and build system
necessary to write programs for the RP2040 based devices such as the Raspberry Pi Pico
in C, C++ or assembly language.
The Pico SDK is designed to provide an API and programming environment that is familiar both to non-embedded C developers and embedded C developers alike.
C level libraries/APIs for accessing all of the RP2040's hardware include PIO (Programmable IO)
Additionally the Pico SDK provides higher level libraries for dealing with timers, synchronization, USB (TinyUSB) and multi-core programming
along with various utilities.
The Pico SDK can be used to build anything from simple applications, full fledged runtime environments such as MicroPython, to low level software
such as RP2040's on chip bootrom itself.
Additional libraries/APIs that are not yet ready for inclusion in the Pico SDK can be found in [pico-extras](https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-extras).
# Documentation
See [Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi Pico](https://rptl.io/pico-get-started) for information on how to setup your
hardware, IDE/environment and for how to build and debug software for the Raspberry Pi Pico
and other RP2040 based devices.
See [Pico C/C++ SDK](https://rptl.io/pico-c-sdk) to learn more about programming using the
Pico SDK, exploring more advanced features, and complete PDF based API documentation.
See [Online Pico SDK API docs](https://rptl.io/pico-doxygen) for HTML based API documentation.
# Example code
See [pico-examples](https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-examples) for example code you can build.
# Quick-start your own project
These instructions are exteremly terse, and Linux based only. For detailed steps,
instructions for other platforms, and just in general, we recommend you see [Pico C/C++ SDK](https://rptl.io/pico-c-sdk)
1. Install CMake (at least version 3.12), and GCC cross compiler
# (note this can come from environment, CMake cache etc)
set(PICO_SDK_FETCH_FROM_GIT on)
# pico_sdk_import.cmake is a single file copied from this SDK
# note: this must happen before project()
include(pico_sdk_import.cmake)
project(my_project)
# initialize the Pico SDK
pico_sdk_init()
# rest of your project
```
3. Setup a CMake build directory.
For example, if not using an IDE:
```
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake ..
```
4. Write your code (see [pico-examples](https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-examples) or the [Pico C/C++ SDK](https://rptl.io/pico-c-sdk) documentation
for more information)
About the simplest you can do is a single source file (e.g. hello_world.c)
```c
#include<stdio.h>
#include "pico/stdlib.h"
int main() {
setup_default_uart();
printf("Hello, world!\n");
return 0;
}
```
And add the following to your `CMakeLists.txt`:
```cmake
add_executable(hello_world
hello_world.c
)
# Add pico_stdlib library which aggregates commonly used features
target_link_libraries(hello_world pico_stdlib)
# create map/bin/hex/uf2 file in addition to ELF.
pico_add_extra_outputs(hello_world)
```
Note this example uses the default UART for _stdout_;
if you want ot use the default USB see the [hello-usb](https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-examples/tree/master/hello_world/usb) example.
5. Make your target from the build directory you created.
```sh
$ make hello_world
```
6. You now have `hello_world.elf` to load via a debugger, or `hello_world.uf2` that can be installed and