Sony VERSION 1.0

Guide to Cell/B.E. Programming Documentation

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General Conventions of Microprocessor and Cell/B.E. Documentation

The Cell/B.E. documentation set, in general, observes industry-wide conventions with respect to microprocessor

documentation. Specifically, document titles have the following content implications:

 Architecture – An architecture document is a specification of requirements for a microprocessor or computer

system. It does not specify details of how the microprocessor or computer system must be implemented;

instead it provides a template for a family of compatible implementations. The target audience may include

application programmers, system programmers, and hardware developers, depending on the actual content of

the document.

 Microarchitecture—A microarchitecture document describes the internal functions of microprocessor

hardware, and it normally illustrates these functions as general block diagrams, Boolean-logic diagrams, and/or

circuit diagrams. The target audience may be application and/or system programmers, depending on the

actual content of the document.

 Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) – An ISA document describes a microprocessor model that is seen by

compiled software (machine or object code), including instructions, address and data formats, registers,

memory organization, and state variables on which the instructions operate. The target audience is application

and system programmers.

 Application Binary Interface (ABI) – An ABI document describes the interface between compiled software

(machine or object code) and a particular pairing of system software (operating system, library, or other

software service) and microprocessor hardware. The target audience is system programmers.

 Application Programming Interface (API) – An API document describes the interface between uncompiled

software (source code) and an operating system, library, or other software service, independent of any

particular microprocessor hardware. The target audience is application and system programmers.

 Language Specification – A language specification describes a programming language, including grammar,

lexicon, register usage, and related details. The target audience is application and system programmers.

 Registers – A Registers document describes register addresses and how register contents affect

microprocessor operations. The fields of the registers are illustrated, bit-by-bit, and their functions are

described. All registers, including both problem-state (user) and privilege-state (supervisor) registers, are

typically described. The target audience is application and system programmers.

Special Terms Used in Cell/B.E. Documentation

 Privilege State (Supervisor) – The state in which system software has system-wide control over all other

software processes.

 Problem State (User) – The state in which application software runs under system software.

 Intrinsics – C/C++ function calls mapped to one or more Cell/B.E. assembly instructions.

 SIMD – Single-instruction, multiple-data.