Appendix I vector processor

This appendix provides an overview of the vector processor, as well as AIX® ABI extensions and linkage conventions in support of the vector processor.

Storage operands and alignment
The vector data types are 16 bytes in size, and must be aligned on a 16-byte (quadword) boundary.
Register usage conventions
The PowerPC® vector extension architecture adds 32 vector registers (VRs).
Runtime stack
The runtime stack begins quadword aligned for both 32-bit and 64-bit processes.
Procedure calling sequence
The procedure calling conventions with respect to argument passing and return values.
Traceback tables
The traceback table provides the information necessary to determine the presence of vector state in the stack frame for a function.
Debug stabstrings
The stabstring codes are defined to specify the location of objects in VRs.
Legacy ABI compatibility and interoperability
The legacy ABI compatibility and interoperability.

Parent topic: Assembler language reference

Related information

AIX vector programming