Architecture

2.4 Data Formats and Addressing

This section explains how data is organized in R3900 registers and memory.

The R3900 uses the following data formats: 64-bit doubleword, 32-bit word, 16-bit halfword and 8-bit byte. The byte order can be set to either big endian or little endian.

Figure 2-5 shows how bytes are ordered in words, and how words are ordered in multiple words, for both the big-endian and little-endian formats.

Higher address

31

23

16 15

8 7

Word address

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

24

 

 

 

0

 

 

8

9

 

10

 

11

8

 

4

5

 

6

 

7

4

Lower address

0

1

 

2

 

3

0

Higher address

Lower address

￿Byte 0 is the most significant byte (bit 31-24).

￿A word is addressed beginning with the most significant byte.

(a)Big endian

31

23

15

7

Word address

24

16

8

0

 

11

10

9

8

8

7

6

5

4

4

3

2

1

0

0

￿Byte 0 is the least significant byte (bit 7-0).

￿A word is addressed beginning with the least significant byte.

(b)Little endian

Figure 2-5. Big endian and little endian formats

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Toshiba TX39 user manual Data Formats and Addressing, Big endian and little endian formats