Opcodes and Formats

The opcode and set_opcode methods may be used to access the opcode field in an instruction. These opcodes are members of the if_ops enumerated type. The internal names for the opcodes all begin with io_, but that prefix is omitted in this documentation. The if_ops_name function takes an opcode and returns a character string holding the opcode name (without the io_ prefix). This is used by the library when it prints out instructions, but you may also call it directly.

Each opcode is associated with a particular instruction format. The formats are specified by members of the inst_format enumeration. The format method may be used to retrieve the format for a particular instruction. Alternatively, the which_format function takes an opcode and returns its format without reference to any particular instruction. Each format corresponds to a particular derived instruction class:

inf_rrr

Three operand instructions use the in_rrr class.

inf_bj

Branch and jump instructions use the in_bj class.

inf_ldc

The load constant instruction uses the in_ldc class.

inf_cal

The call instruction uses the in_cal class.

inf_array

The array instruction uses the in_array class.

inf_mbr

The multi-way branch instruction uses the in_mbr class.

inf_lab

The label instruction uses the in_lab class.

inf_gen

Generic instructions use the in_gen class.

The format method is often used in switch statements for dealing with different kinds of instructions. For example, the following code computes the number of source operands in an instruction (instead of using the num_srcs method):

instruction *i;
switch (i->format()) {
    case inf_rrr: {
        n += 2;
        break;
    }
    case inf_bj: {
        n += 1;
        break;
    }
    case inf_cal: {
        in_cal *cali = (in_cal *)i;
        n += 1 + cali->num_args();
        break;
    }
    case inf_array: {
        in_array *arri = (in_array *)i;
        n += 2 + 2 * arri->dims();
        break;
    }
    case inf_mbr: {
        n += 1;
        break;
    }
    case inf_gen: {
        in_gen *geni = (in_gen *)i;
        n += geni->num_srcs();
        break;
    }
    default: {
        /* other formats (inf_ldc and inf_lab) have no source operands */
        break;
    }
}

The opcodes and instruction formats are defined in the `opcodes.h' and `opcodes.cc' files.