1. Chapter 7 Subroutines Dr. A.P. Preethy
7.1 Introduction
There is frequently a need either to repeat a computation or to repeat the computation with different arguments.
Subroutines can be used in such situations
Subroutines may be either open or closed
Open subroutine
is insertion of required code whenever it is needed in the program e.g. macro
arguments are passed in the registers that are given as arguments to the subroutine.
Closed subroutine
is one in which the code appears only once in the program; whenever it is needed, a jump to the code is executed, and when it completes, a return is made to the instruction occurring after the jump instruction.
arguments may be placed in registers or on the stack

2. A subroutine also allows you to debug code once and then sure that all future instantiations of the code will be correct
Any register that the subroutine uses must first be saved and then restored after the subroutine completes execution
Arguments to subroutines are normally considered to be local variables of the subroutine,and the subroutine is free to change them
However, this is not always the case, for e.g., in multiplication, multiplicand is not changed

3. ! end open coded multiply
7.2 Open Subroutines
The cmul macro discussed in Chapter 6 is an open subroutine, and can handle multiplication by constants:
cmul (%r0, 603, %g1, %r1)
To multiply %r0 by 100,
cmul(%r0, 100, %g1, %r0)
And the code expands into:
!start open coded multiply for
!%r0= %r0 * 100, using %g1 as temp
sll %r0, , %r0
sll %r0, , %g1
sub %r0, %g1, %r0
sll %g1, , %g1
add %r0, %g1, %r0
! end open coded multiply

4. Open Subroutines are very efficient with no wasted instructions
Open Subroutines are very flexible and can be as general as the program wishes to make them
Every time open subroutine referenced, the code is expanded, resulting in long code
So it is better to write code once as a closed subroutine and to branch to the code, whenever needed

5. 7.3 Register Saving
Almost any computation will involve the use of registers
Usually when subroutines are called, registers are pushed onto the stack and popped from, when it returns
To avoid the execution time involved, in CISC, sometimes a special register save mask is used, that would indicate, by bits that were set, which registers were to be saved
(contd….)

6. (Register Saving contd…)
SPARC architecture provides a register file with a mapping register that indicates the active registers
It provides 128 registers, with the programmer having access to the eight global registers, and only 24 of the mapped registers at a time
save instruction changes the register mapping so that new registers are provided
restore instruction restores the register mapping on subroutine return

7. The 32 registers are divided into four groups : in, local, out and general
The eight general register %g0 to %g8 are not mapped and are global to all subroutines
“in” & “out” register are used to pass arguments to closed subroutine
“local” registers are used for subroutine’s local variables
When save instruction is executed the out register become the in register, and a new set of local and out registers is provided
The mapping pointer into the register file is changed by 16 registers

8. The next two slides show Register Sets
(Figure 7.1)

9. Figure 7.1: A Register Set (Figure contd…on next slide)

10. (Figure contd…from the prev. slide)
Figure 7.1: A Register Set

11. The current register set is indicated by the current window ptr (cwp).
The last free register set is marked by the window invalid bit, in the WIM
After save instruction is executed, the situation in Figure 7.2 results, the prior subroutine’s register contents remain unchanged until a restore instruction is executed, resetting the cwp
(Figure 7.2 follows …)

12. Figure 7.2: Register Sets

13. If a further five subroutine calls are made without any returns, window overflow will occur (Figure 7.3 follows on the next slide)
The out registers being used are from the invalid register window marked by the wim bit
Hardware trap will occur at the time of window overflow
saves and restores can be made in a range of six without window overflows or underflows (it is expensive if recursive subroutine calls are frequently made)

14. Figure 7.3: Windows Overflow

15. More about Register window mapping…
Register window mapping explains why the frame pointer (%o6) becomes stack pointer (%i6) after save instruction
Save %sp, -64, %sp
This will subtract 64 from the current stack pointer, but stores the result into the new stack pointer, leaving the old %sp contents unchanged, which becomes the new %fp
restore instruction restores the register window set. On doing this, a register window can underflow if the cwp is moved to the wim. When this happens the window trap routine restores the registers from the stack and resets the pointers
restore is also an add instruction and is used as the final add instruction in a subroutine

16. 7.4 Subroutine Linkage (contd…)
The SPARC architecture supports two instructions, call and jmpl, for linking to subroutines
The address of instruction which called the subroutine is stored in %o7
The return from subroutine is to %o7 + 8, which is the address of the next instruction to be executed in the main program
If a save instruction is executed at the beginning of the subroutine, the contents of %o7 will become %i7, and the return will have to be to %i7 + 8
(contd…)

17. Subroutine Linkage contd…
call instruction
If the subroutine name is known at assembly time, the call instruction may be used
call instruction has a target address label
It stores %pc contents to %o7
always followed by a delay slot instruction

18. jmpl instruction
If address of the subroutine is computed, it must be loaded into a register, and then jmpl instruction is used to call the subroutine
jmpl instruction has two source arguments (two registers or a register and a constant), and a destination register
subroutine address is the sum of the source arguments, and the address of the jmpl instruction is stored in the destination register
always followed by a delay slot instruction
to call a subroutine whose address is in register %o0 and to store the return address into %o7, we would write:
jmpl %o0, %o7

19. Subroutine Linkage contd…
The assembler recognizes
call %o as
jmpl %o0, %07
The return from a subroutine also makes use of the jmpl instruction
We need to return to %i7 + 8
Assembler recognizes ret for:
jmpl %i7 + 8, %g0

20. Subroutine Linkage contd…
The call to subroutine is:
call subr
nop
And at the entry of the subroutine
subr: save %sp, … %sp
with the return
ret
restore
The restore instruction is normally used to fill the delay slot of the ret instruction
The ret is expanded to: jmpl %i7 + 8, %g0

21. 7.5 Arguments to Subroutines
Arguments to subroutines can follow in-line after the call instruction, be on the stack, or located in registers
If the addresses and the values of the arguments are known at the assembly time (e.g. 3 and 4) then we can write :
call add
nop 3
4 (contd… on next slide)

22. The following subroutine code results:
(contd.. from the prev. slide)
The following subroutine code results:
add: save %sp, -64, %sp
ld [%i7 + 8], %i0 !first argument
ld [%i7 +12], %i1 !second argument
add %i1, %i0, %i0
jmpl %i7 + 16, %g0 !return address
restore
This type of argument passing is very efficient, but limited
Recursive calls are not possible, nor is it possible to compute any of the arguments

23. Using Stack
Each argument should be stored before the subroutine may be called
But allows flexibility to compute arguments, pass any number of arguments, and support recursive calls
Time is wasted to store the arguments on stack and retrieve them at the time of computation
In SPARC:
allows first six arguments to be placed in %o0-%05, the rest on the stack, however, space is reserved on the stack for the first six also
One word space reserved for each argument, so bytes must be moved as words
%o6 is sp and %07 is for return address
After the execution of a save instruction, the arguments will be in %o0-%05

24. The arguments are located on the stack, after the 64 bytes reserved for register window saving
On the stack, immediately after 64 bytes reserved for register window saving, there is a pointer to where a structure may be returned (discussed in Section 7.7)
Thus structure return pointer will be at %sp + 64 and the first argument, if it were on the stack, at %sp + 68
Before arguments may be placed onto the stack, space on the stack must be provided by subtracting the number of bytes required for arguments from the stack pointer

25. The space is created when we execute the save instruction on subroutine entry
.global subroutine_name
subroutine_name:
save %sp, -( local) & -8, %sp
This save instruction will provide:
Space for saving the register window set, if necessary
A structure pointer
A place to save six arguments
Space for any local variable
(contd…)

26. If we had a subroutine vector with local variables{
int a,b;
char d;
Then save instruction would be
save %sp, -( ) & -8, %sp
Resulting in subtraction of 104 bytes (Figure 7.4)

27. Figure 7.4: The stack part I (figure contd… on next slide)

28. (Figure 7.4 contd… from the prev. slide)
Figure 7.4: The stack part II

29. The stack is shown again in the figure below to differentiate the frames referenced by %fp and %sp.
Figure 7.5: The stack showing Two Frames part I (Figure continues on next slide…)

30. Figure 7.5: The stack showing Two Frames part II
(Figure contd… from the prev. slide…)
Figure 7.5: The stack showing Two Frames part II

32. we might define a subroutine entry macro, begin-fn, to be called after the
definition of local variables with the name of the subroutine as argument:

33. 7.6 Examples

34. (code contd… on next slide)
The example’s translation into assembly languages is:
(code contd… on next slide)

35. Code contd… from the prev. slide
sth %o0, [%o1 + %o2]
Id [%fp + x_s] , %o0 ‘!y = x*a’
call .mul
mov %a_r, %o1
st %o0, [%fp + y_s]
ld [%fp + x_s], %o0 ‘!j = x+i’
Add %i_r, %o0, %j_r
ld [%fp + x_s], %o0 ‘!return = x+y’
ld [%fp + y_s], %o1
ret
Restore %o0, %o1, %o0

36. (contd…. on next slide) The code expands into: ‘!a_r in %i0
‘!b_r in %i1
‘!c_r in %i2
!local variables
x_s = -4
y_s = -8
ary_s = -264
‘! i_r in %l0
‘!j_r in %l1
(contd…. on next slide)

37. (contd…)

38. (contd… from the prev. slide)

39. 7.7 Return Values
Functions are subroutines which return a value
In SPARC, the return value is always returned in register %o0, i.e. %i0 of called program
We have to put the return value in %i0 before executing restore instruction

41. (contd…on next slide) The function zero returns a structure.
When call is made to zero, a pointer to where the returned struct is to be stored is passed to the function at %sp + 64.
(contd…on next slide)

43. This type of errors are hard to debug The other method is :
Thus returning structure in this manner is a little dangerous. (due to insufficient size)
This type of errors are hard to debug
The other method is :
The caller, passes a pointer to the beginning of the storage in %sp + struct_s and place number of bytes of storage expected to be received. For example:

45. 7.8 Subroutines with many arguments

47. The stack when foo has been entered is shown in Figure 7. 6
The stack when foo has been entered is shown in Figure 7.6. Inside foo the arguments may be accessed by define(a8-s, arg-d(8)) define(a7-s, arg-d(7))

48. 7.9 Leaf Subroutines
A leaf routine is one that does not call any other routines (e.g. .mul)
Leaf routine may only use the first six out register and the global register %g0 and %g1
A leaf subroutine does not execute either call or restore instruction

49. Figure 7.6: The Stack with additional Arguments Part I
%fp ->
Figure 7.6: The Stack with additional Arguments Part I
(Figure contd… on next slide)

50. (Figure contd…from the prev. slide)
Figure 7.6: The Stack with additional Arguments Part II

52. 7.10 Pointers as Arguments to Subroutines
Given the swap function, arguments must be passed to the function in order for the values to be swapped:

55. 7.11 Summary
Subroutines simplify writing code, provide structures, and help to control programming errors.
In the case of closed subroutines, register-saving mechanism facilitates subroutine linkages.
Stack frame introduced as storage for registers, arguments, local variables, and the return address.
Return of scalars and structures, and passing of arguments discussed.