
;;; $Header: /project/cmucl/cvsroot/src/compiler/mips/notes.txt,v 1.2 1990-02-07 14:05:49 ram Rel $



Call:

There are several different kinds of call, depending on what is going on.

The call can be named (i.e. use the symbol-function slot) or through a
function object.

The call can pass either a fixed number of args or a variable number of
args.

The call can return a fixed number of values, a variable number of values,
or be a tail call.



Register usage at the time of the call:

LEXENV:  Holds the lexical environment to use during the call if it's a
closure, or garbage if not.

CALL-NAME:  Holds the symbol for a named call and garbage for others.

OLD-CONT:  Holds the context pointer that should be restored upon return.

A0...An:  Holds the first n+1 args.

NARGS:  Holds the number of args, as a fixnum.

ARGS:  Holds a pointer to the args.  Note: indexes off of this pointer are
as if all the arguments were stored at it, e.g. the first stack arg is at
ARGS[n] where n is number of register args.  Because of this, ARGS is the
same as the callers CONT (OLD-CONT at the time of the call for non-tail
call).
[RAM: note that this must be set up even when NARGS<=n, since the callee may be
expecting more arguments (due to optionals or a bad call.)  ARGS must be
pointing to some valid chunk of memory, since the callee moves all of the
positional args before checking to see if they are actually supplied.]

LRA:  Holds the lisp-return-address object that the call should be returned
to.  Calculated for non-tail call, and left as is for tail call.

CSP:  Left as is.  The callee will set this as necessary based on CONT.

NSP:  ???
[RAM: will be managed similarly to CSP, i.e. callee has to allocate and is
required to deallocate.]

CONT:  The callee's context pointer.  Established as CSP for non-tail call,
and left as is for tail call.

CODE:  The function object being called.



Register usage at the time of the return for single value return:

A0:  The value.

CODE:  The lisp-return-address we returned to.

CSP:  Restored from CONT.
[RAM: i.e. stack is guaranteed to be clean.  No SP frobbing is necessary.]

CONT:  Restored from OLD-CONT.


Additional register usage for multiple value return:

NARGS:  Number of values being returned.

A0...An:  The first n+1 values, or NIL if there are less than n+1 values.

ARGS:  Pointer to the rest of the values.  The returnee's CONT.
[RAM: i.e. as with ARGS in call, points n+1 words before the first stack
value.]


CSP:  CONT + NARGS*4




What has to happen for this to work:

Caller:
  set NARGS
  set ARGS
  if tail call
    CONT <- OLD-CONT
  else
    calc LRA
    CONT <- CSP
  if named
    set CALL-NAME
  set LEXENV
  set CODE
  calc target addr (CODE + n)
  jr

Callee:
  allocate-frame
    emit function header.
    set CSP = CONT + size.
    do something with nsp
  setup-environment
    set CODE = CODE - n
  move-argument
    move stack args from ARGS[n] to CONT[n]

Returner:
  known values:
    move-result
      move values from CONT[n] to OLD-CONT[n].
    known-return
      CONT = OLD-CONT
      CODE = LRA
      calc target addr (CODE + n)
      jr

  unknown constant values (return VOP):
    nargs = 1 case:
      CSP = CONT
      CONT = OLD-CONT
      CODE = LRA
      calc target addr (CODE + n + 8)
      jr
    nargs != 1 case:
      set NARGS
      nil out unused arg regs
      ARGS = CONT
      CSP = CONT + NARGS * word-bytes
      CONT = OLD-CONT
      CODE = LRA
      calc target addr (CODE + n)
      jr

  unknown variable values (return-multiple VOP):
    copy the args from wherever to the top of the stack.
[RAM: I would phrase this "to the beginning of the current (returner's) frame".
They will already be there except with RETURN-MULTIPLE (when they *will* be on
the stack top.)  But then after any copy, we adjust CSP so that the values are
once again on stack top.]
    nil out unused arg regs
    ARGS = CONT
    CSP = CONT + NARGS * word-bytes
    CONT = OLD-CONT
    CODE = LRA
    calc target addr (CODE + n)
    jr


Returnee:
  want fixed number of values:


  want variable number of values:
