Sun SPARC assembler, reference manual needed. [Summary]

[David R Kohr]

Here is a summary of the replies I received to my query about documentation
for SPARC assembly language and the desirability of using assemblers
other than "as", which comes with Sun/OS:

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[My original posting.]

I am in need of a good manual for the Sun SPARC assembly language and
the "as" SPARC assembler that comes with Sun/OS for SPARC machines.
The manual on "as" which comes with Sun/OS is very sparse in regard to
providing a tutorial for SPARC assembly language.

I could also use pointers to alternatives to use in place of "as",
since I've heard that "as" is not very full-featured, as assemblers go.
The assembler would be used for an undergraduate course in assembly
language.

Thanks,

David R. Kohr     M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory      Group 45 ("Radars 'R' Us")
    email:    DRK at ATHENA.MIT.EDU (preferred)  or  KOHR at LL.LL.MIT.EDU
    phone:    (617)981-0775 (work)	      or  (617)527-3908 (home)
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The as sun provides does do a few nice things.
It reorders instructions and fills in branch delay slots if you ask it
nicely.  It needs the proper directives to get it right (.proc is the
only really necessary one)...

FWIW,
R.
= Roland G. Ouellette			ouellette at tarkin.enet.dec.com	=
= 1203 E. Florida Ave			rouellet@[dwarfs.]crhc.uiuc.edu	=
= Urbana, IL 61801	   "You rescued me; I didn't want to be saved." =
=							- Cyndi Lauper	=
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You probably want _SPARC/RISC User's Guide_ from
ROSS/Cypress.  It has a full description of the instruction
set, talks about register windows, etc.  I got a copy free from the
local cypress sales rep.

The number for ROSS Technology is 512-448-8968.
The number for Cypress is 408-943-2600.

--Bob
-- 
When an eel bites your leg, and the pain makes you beg, that's a moray!
I'm bob at psitech.com or uunet!psitech!bob
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	The SPARC Architecture Manual (800-1399-08) describes the 
instruction set.   I think it cost around $30, with a minimum order
of $50.  That is a reasonable textbook price, though it may not
be sufficiently expository for undergraduates.  Certainly you need
this in your own repository and a copy in the main terminal room.

	If your students already know C, then I encourage them
to use the C preprocessor with the assembler.
"as" allows multiple statements per line separated by semicolons,
as might occur in a macro expansion.  You can also give symbolic names to
registers via #define, making it easy to change register assignments 
after much of the code is written.
-- 
        Peter L. Montgomery 
        pmontgom at MATH.UCLA.EDU 
        Department of Mathematics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1555
If I spent as much time on my dissertation as I do reading news, I'd graduate.
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Ways to learn sparc:

1. The sparc architecture reference manual has some examples.  (rev 7
may be the latest) You can get one from a sun dealer or a vendor such
as Cypress, who has a "Cypress RISC Seminar Notebook" which is pretty
good, discussing compiler issues, too. Fujitsu gives out a paperback
copy of the Sun spec. I _think_ their document center is at
	
	Fujitsu Microelectronics
	800 874 9927

2. Run your Sun 4/* or ss* compiler with known, simple source code.
It's surprisingly easy to understand the intermediate .s file, and you
find yourself checking the compiler's optimizing skills.

Regarding the Sun assembler, I'm sure everyone recommends you switch
to Gnu's gas assembler, anyway.

Best of luck.
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From: khb at Eng.Sun.COM (Keith Bierman fpgroup)

There is The SPARC System Developer's Guide by L. Leventhal and J. Rohner,
ISBN 0-387-97251-X, Springer-Verlag, $39.95.

I have never used it, but it is claimed to be useful.

There hasn't been very much of an aftermarket in assemblers, coding in
as is fairly rare ... mostly folks take HLL codes, emit the .s files
and tweak from there, if necessary. 

Clearly students deserve better; one can work wonders with m4 as a
preprocessor ....
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Subject: SPARC V7
From: dgh at validgh.com (David G. Hough on validgh)

Has unfortunately been out of date for almost three years (i.e. since it
was published).   It is very important to get SPARC V8 as soon as it's
available (any year now, but I have heard that it's at the printers).
There have been a number of changes in the instruction set and quite a
bit of explanatory material has been added.
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Try contacting SPARC International.  This is the consortium set up
to publish just that kind of material.  It's in Santa Clara or Cupertino
or somewhere else in Si Valley, so you can get the number from either
415/555-1212 or 408/555-1212.

I know there is a series of books published by Fujitsu (one of the
SPARC chip suppliers) that has SPARC Int'l sanction, but as I recall
they're more reference than tutorial.

Hope you'll summarize any findings.

Spencer Greene    **    sgreene at kenkai1.yokogawa.co.jp
Yokogawa Electric Corporation * Musashino, Tokyo Japan
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From: lou at central.cis.upenn.edu (Richard Paul)

I am writing a text for the Sun SPARC Architecture which should be
available in rough draft form by the end of the summer.
The course strongly relates the architecture to C.  I currently teach
the Architecture course at Penn at the sophomore level.

I use as which I find to be fine.
	
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--
David R. Kohr     M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory      Group 45 ("Radars 'R' Us")
    email:    DRK at ATHENA.MIT.EDU (preferred)  or  KOHR at LL.LL.MIT.EDU
    phone:    (617)981-0775 (work)	      or  (617)527-3908 (home)