Appendix C
Programming the MIPS32® 74K™ Core Family, Revision 02.14
151
MIPS® Architecture quick-reference sheet(s)
C.1 General purpose register numbers and names
By ancient convention the general-purpose registers in the MIPS architecture have conventional names which remind
you of their standard usage in popular MIPS ABIs.
shows those names related to both the “o32” ABI
(almost universally used for 32-bit MIPS applications), but also the minor variations in the “n32” and “n64” ABIs
defined by Silicon Graphics.
If you’re not sure what an ABI is, just read the “o32” column!
C.2 User-level changes with Release 2 of the MIPS32® Architecture
With the Release 2 update the MIPS32 instruction set gains some useful extra features, shown below. User-level pro-
grams also get limited access to “hardware registers”, useful for user-privilege software but which wants to adapt
(portably) to get the best out of the CPU.
C.2.1 Release 2 of the MIPS32® Architecture - new instructions for user-mode
The following instructions are new with the MIPS32 release 2 update:
Table C.1 Conventional names of registers with usage mnemonics
Register Nos
name
use
$0
zero
always zero
$1
AT
assembler temporary
$2-$3
v0-v1
return value from function
$4-$7
a0-a3
arguments
o32
n32/n64
name
use
name
use
$8-$11
t0-t3
temporaries
a4-a7
more arguments
$12-$15
t4-t7
t0-t3
temporaries
$24-$25
t8-t9
t8-t9
$16-$23
s0-s7
saved registers
$26-$27
k0-k1
reserved for interrupt/trap handler
$28
gp
global pointer
$29
sp
stack pointer
$30
s8/fp
frame pointer if needed (additional saved register if not)
$31
ra
Return address for subroutine
Summary of Contents for MIPS32 74K Series
Page 1: ...Document Number MD00541 Revision 02 14 March 30 2011 Programming the MIPS32 74K Core Family...
Page 10: ...Programming the MIPS32 74K Core Family Revision 02 14 10...
Page 54: ...3 8 The TLB and translation Programming the MIPS32 74K Core Family Revision 02 14 54...
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Page 101: ...The MIPS32 DSP ASE 101 Programming the MIPS32 74K Core Family Revision 02 14...
Page 134: ...8 4 Performance counters Programming the MIPS32 74K Core Family Revision 02 14 134...