
Figure 2–2:  Word Format
| 15 | 0 | 
:A
A word is specified by its address, the address of the byte containing bit 0.
A word is a 
2.2.3 Longword
A longword is 4 contiguous bytes starting on an arbitrary byte boundary. The bits are num- bered from right to left, 0 through 31, as shown in Figure 
Figure 2–3:  Longword Format
| 31 | 0 | 
:A
A longword is specified by its address A, the address of the byte containing bit 0. A longword is a 
When interpreted arithmetically, a longword is a 
Note:
Alpha implementations will impose a significant performance penalty when accessing longword operands that are not naturally aligned. (A naturally aligned longword has zero as the 
2.2.4 Quadword
A quadword is 8 contiguous bytes starting on an arbitrary byte boundary. The bits are num- bered from right to left, 0 through 63, as shown in Figure 
Figure 2–4:  Quadword Format
| 63 | 0 | 
:A
