Commit a664b494 authored by Russ Cox's avatar Russ Cox

doc/asm: more about SP, ARM R11

Also rename URL to /doc/asm.

R=golang-dev, minux.ma, r
CC=golang-dev
https://golang.org/cl/26170043
parent 7dd086e5
<!--{
"Title": "A Quick Guide to Go's Assembler",
"Path": "/doc/asm.html"
"Path": "/doc/asm"
}-->
<h2 id="introduction">A Quick Guide to Go's Assembler</h2>
......@@ -113,12 +113,30 @@ is the name <code>foo</code> as an address in memory.
</p>
<p>
The <code>FP</code> is a virtual frame pointer.
The <code>FP</code> pseudo-register is a virtual frame pointer
used to refer to function arguments.
The compilers maintain a virtual frame pointer and refer to the arguments on the stack as offsets from that pseudo-register.
Thus <code>0(FP)</code> is the first argument to the function,
<code>8(FP)</code> is the second (on a 64-bit machine), and so on.
To refer to an argument by name, add the name to the numerical offset, like this: <code>first_arg+0(FP)</code>.
The name in this syntax has no semantic value; think of it as a comment to the reader.
When referring to a function argument this way, it is conventional to place the name
at the beginning, as in <code>first_arg+0(FP)</code> and <code>second_arg+8(FP)</code>.
Some of the assemblers enforce this convention, rejecting plain <code>0(FP)</code> and <code>8(FP)</code>.
For assembly functions with Go prototypes, <code>go vet</code> will check that the argument names
and offsets match.
</p>
<p>
The <code>SP</code> pseudo-register is a virtual stack pointer
used to refer to frame-local variables and the arguments being
prepared for function calls.
It points to the top of the local stack frame, so references should use negative offsets
in the range [−framesize, 0):
<code>x-8(SP)</code>, <code>y-4(SP)</code>, and so on.
On architectures with a real register named <code>SP</code>, the name prefix distinguishes
references to the virtual stack pointer from references to the architectural <code>SP</code> register.
That is, <code>x-8(SP)</code> and <code>-8(SP)</code> are different memory locations:
the first refers to the virtual stack pointer pseudo-register, while the second refers to the
hardware's <code>SP</code> register.
</p>
<p>
......@@ -358,11 +376,26 @@ MOVQ m(CX), BX // Move m into BX.
<h3 id="arm">ARM</h3>
<p>
The registers <code>R9</code> and <code>R10</code> are reserved by the
compiler and linker to point to the <code>m</code> (machine) and <code>g</code>
The registers <code>R9</code>, <code>R10</code>, and <code>R11</code>
are reserved by the compiler and linker.
</p>
<p>
<code>R9</code> and <code>R10</code> point to the <code>m</code> (machine) and <code>g</code>
(goroutine) structures, respectively.
Within assembler source code, these pointers
can be referred to as simply <code>m</code> and <code>g</code>.
Within assembler source code, these pointers must be referred to as <code>m</code> and <code>g</code>;
the names <code>R9</code> and <code>R10</code> are not recognized.
</p>
<p>
To make it easier for people and compilers to write assembly, the ARM linker
allows general addressing forms and pseudo-operations like <code>DIV</code> or <code>MOD</code>
that may not be expressible using a single hardware instruction.
It implements these forms as multiple instructions, often using the <code>R11</code> register
to hold temporary values.
Hand-written assembly can use <code>R11</code>, but doing so requires
being sure that the linker is not also using it to implement any of the other
instructions in the function.
</p>
<p>
......@@ -370,6 +403,10 @@ When defining a <code>TEXT</code>, specifying frame size <code>$-4</code>
tells the linker that this is a leaf function that does not need to save <code>LR</code> on entry.
</p>
<p>
The name <code>SP</code> always refers to the virtual stack pointer described earlier.
For the hardware register, use <code>R13</code>.
</p>
<h3 id="unsupported_opcodes">Unsupported opcodes</h3>
......
......@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
Go-specific considerations are documented at
http://golang.org/doc/asm.html
http://golang.org/doc/asm
Its target architecture is the ARM, referred to by these tools as arm.
......
......@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
Go-specific considerations are documented at
http://golang.org/doc/asm.html
http://golang.org/doc/asm
IIts target architecture is the x86-64, referred to by these tools as amd64.
Its target architecture is the x86-64, referred to by these tools as amd64.
*/
package main
......@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
Go-specific considerations are documented at
http://golang.org/doc/asm.html
http://golang.org/doc/asm
I
Its target architecture is the x86, referred to by these tools for historical reasons as 386.
......
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