For example, this might be for protection reasons - hackers might be able to access parts of the device that weren't meant to be accessed. A company may want to stop their customers from writing their own firmware and uploading it onto the micro. There is one big security issue to worry about with bootloaders. Once the full firmware has been received, the micro can happily run its updated code. The bootloader receives information from a communication line (a USB port, serial port, ethernet port, WiFi connection, etc.) and stores this data into program memory. This is especially useful for devices with complex code that may need to be patched or otherwise updated in the future - a bootloader makes it possible for the user to upload a patched version of the firmware onto the micro. In the world of microcontrollers, a bootloader is a special piece of firmware that is made to let the user upload new programs into memory.
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