Difference between revisions of "ARMv8"

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==Method Calling==
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As with any other architecture, certain registers are set to be ''parameter registers'', which are registers used to pass a value / reference to another method. As stated above, the first 8 registers (X0-X7 / W0-W7) are used. The order of types can be any pattern, as long as it properly increments the register number. For example:
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X0, X1, X2, W3, X4, W5 would be (assuming X is long and W is of type int):
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long, long, long, int, long, int.
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W0, X1, W2 would be:
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int, long, int.

Latest revision as of 16:07, 23 January 2019

ARMv8 is the machine architecture that the Nintendo Switch uses to process compiled code. It has a very large instruction set and register components.

Registers

The architecture includes a variety of registers.

GPR

The GPRs have two varieties, 64-bit GPRs and 32-bit GPRs.

Name Size Description
X0-X7 64-bit Used to pass parameters to a function and to return a result. Can be used as scratch.
X8 64-bit Indirect result register. Passes the address of an indirect result.
X9-X15 64-bit Caller-saved temporary registers.
X16 64-bit IP0 (Intra-Procedure Call) temporary register. Can be used for call veneers and as a caller-saved temporary register.
X17 64-bit IP1 (Intra-Procedure Call) temporary register. Can be used for call veneers and as a caller-saved temporary register.
X18 64-bit Platform register, reserved by the platform ABI. For platforms that do not utilize the register, it can be used as a temporary register.
X19-X29 64-bit Callee-saved temporary registers.
X30 64-bit Link register (LR).

The 32-bit registers use the exact same register types, where it starts with W rather than X.

FPR

The architecture has multiple types of registers for floating point.

Name Size Description
S0-S7 32-bit Used to pass parameters to a function and to return a result. Can be used as scratch.
S8-S15 32-bit Callee-preserved registers.
S16-S31 32-bit These registers do not need to be preserved by the caller, nor the callee.

The following types of floating point registers exist (only the prefixes):

Name Size
B 8-bit
H 16-bit
S 32-bit
D or V 64-bit
Q 128-bit

Special Registers

Name Size Description
WZR 32-bit Zero register. Always contains a 32-bit 0x0 value.
XZR 64-bit Zero register. Always contains a 64-bit 0x0 value.
WSP 32-bit Current stack pointer.
SP 64-bit Current stack pointer.
PC 64-bit Program counter.
ELR 64-bit Exception link register.
SPSR 64-bit Saved processor state register.

Conditional Instructions

Conditional instructions are a simplified way to check for conditions on the same line as an instruction.

Name Description
EQ Equal to.
NE Not equal to.
CS Carry set.
HS Greater than, equal to. (unsigned)
CC Carry clear.
LO Less than. (unsigned)
MI Minus or negative.
PL Positive or zero.
VS Signed overflow.
VC No signed overflow.
HI Greater than. (unsigned)
LS Less than or equal to. (unsigned)
GE Greater than or equal to. (signed)
LT Less than. (signed)
GT Greater than. (signed)
LE Less than or equal to. (signed)
AL Always executed by default.
NV Always executed.

Method Calling

As with any other architecture, certain registers are set to be parameter registers, which are registers used to pass a value / reference to another method. As stated above, the first 8 registers (X0-X7 / W0-W7) are used. The order of types can be any pattern, as long as it properly increments the register number. For example:

X0, X1, X2, W3, X4, W5 would be (assuming X is long and W is of type int): long, long, long, int, long, int.

W0, X1, W2 would be: int, long, int.