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authorChris Lattner <sabre@nondot.org>2007-05-13 01:39:44 +0000
committerChris Lattner <sabre@nondot.org>2007-05-13 01:39:44 +0000
commit69b3e40196f837d5dbc484cd708b6e0489085787 (patch)
treee70028372fe9984eca8333bd2ce3cffb258fc795 /docs/BitCodeFormat.html
parent7300af5896d879bfc476dfbcb4ec23e352797c4f (diff)
add initial description of llvm top-level stuff.
git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@37017 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8
Diffstat (limited to 'docs/BitCodeFormat.html')
-rw-r--r--docs/BitCodeFormat.html96
1 files changed, 93 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/docs/BitCodeFormat.html b/docs/BitCodeFormat.html
index 70f0ec2749..7194c7a6d3 100644
--- a/docs/BitCodeFormat.html
+++ b/docs/BitCodeFormat.html
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@
<li><a href="#stdblocks">Standard Blocks</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
- <li><a href="#llvmir">LLVM IR Encoding</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#llvmir">LLVM IR Encoding</a>
+ <ol>
+ <li><a href="#basics">Basics</a></li>
+ </ol>
+ </li>
</ol>
<div class="doc_author">
<p>Written by <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a>.
@@ -114,7 +118,8 @@ is used by a reader to know what is contained in the file.</p>
<p>
A bitstream literally consists of a stream of bits. This stream is made up of a
-number of primitive values that encode a stream of integer values. These
+number of primitive values that encode a stream of unsigned integer values.
+These
integers are are encoded in two ways: either as <a href="#fixedwidth">Fixed
Width Integers</a> or as <a href="#variablewidth">Variable Width
Integers</a>.
@@ -505,7 +510,92 @@ abbreviation.
<div class="doc_text">
-<p></p>
+<p>LLVM IR is encoded into a bitstream by defining blocks and records. It uses
+blocks for things like constant pools, functions, symbol tables, etc. It uses
+records for things like instructions, global variable descriptors, type
+descriptions, etc. This document does not describe the set of abbreviations
+that the writer uses, as these are fully self-described in the file, and the
+reader is not allowed to build in any knowledge of this.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="basics">Basics</a>
+</div>
+
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="ir_magic">LLVM IR Magic Number</a></div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>
+The magic number for LLVM IR files is:
+</p>
+
+<p><tt>['B'<sub>8</sub>, 'C'<sub>8</sub>, 0x0<sub>4</sub>, 0xC<sub>4</sub>,
+0xE<sub>4</sub>, 0xD<sub>4</sub>]</tt></p>
+
+<p>When viewed as bytes, this is "BC 0xC0DE".</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="ir_signed_vbr">Signed VBRs</a></div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>
+<a href="#variablewidth">Variable Width Integers</a> are an efficient way to
+encode arbitrary sized unsigned values, but is an extremely inefficient way to
+encode signed values (as signed values are otherwise treated as maximally large
+unsigned values).</p>
+
+<p>As such, signed vbr values of a specific width are emitted as follows:</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Positive values are emitted as vbrs of the specified width, but with their
+ value shifted left by one.</li>
+<li>Negative values are emitted as vbrs of the specified width, but the negated
+ value is shifted left by one, and the low bit is set.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>With this encoding, small positive and small negative values can both be
+emitted efficiently.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="ir_blocks">LLVM IR Blocks</a></div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>
+LLVM IR is defined with the following blocks:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li>8 - MODULE_BLOCK - This is the top-level block that contains the
+ entire module, and describes a variety of per-module information.</li>
+<li>9 - PARAMATTR_BLOCK - This enumerates the parameter attributes.</li>
+<li>10 - TYPE_BLOCK - This describes all of the types in the module.</li>
+<li>11 - CONSTANTS_BLOCK - This describes constants for a module or
+ function.</li>
+<li>12 - FUNCTION_BLOCK - This describes a function body.</li>
+<li>13 - TYPE_SYMTAB_BLOCK - This describes the type symbol table.</li>
+<li>14 - VALUE_SYMTAB_BLOCK - This describes a value symbol table.</li>
+</ul>
+
+</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="MODULE_BLOCK">MODULE_BLOCK Contents</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>
+</p>
</div>