Random notes
------------
A random set of notes about sdcc and how it works.

Michael on the register allocation stage:
-----------------------------------------
Lets trace how the register allocator in the mcs51 port works.

Some concepts:
eBBlock
	A basic block.  I can't remember the conditions, but a basic block
is one that is easy to optimise and analyse.  I guess this means that it has
a nice set of assignments and a reasonably straight flow.
iCode
	Intermediate code.  Provides the interface between the parser + optimiser
and the code generator by providing an abstract machine with infinite registers
which the parser can generate for and the back end can turn into real code.
iTemps
	An iTemp is a temporary register used in iCode.  These will eventually
be either replaced, allocated into a register, or placed onto the stack by the
backend.
Live range
     The live range of an iTemp is the part of the code that the iTemp is used
over.  Generally the live range of an iTemp is from its first assignment to its
last use.

Input to mcs51_assignRegisters is an array of basic blocks.  Assign
registers is normally called at the end of a function.

In pseudo code,
1.  For each basic block, pack the registers in the block.
    In this case register packing consists of:
       Remove any unneded iTemps that are just used in assignments.
       Mark anything that can be rematerialised as rematerialisable.
	   There is no way I spelt that correctly.  Something is rematerialisable
	   if it can be generated easily and is constant, and hence dosn't need
	   to be cached away in an iTemp.  An example is the address of something.
       Packs iTemps that are only used once into normally unavailable registers.
    Register packing removes unneeded iTemps.
2.  Determine what number and type of registers are needed for each
    live range.
    It does
       If the iTemp lives for zero time, don't bother assigning
       If its not an iTemp, skip for now.
       If its a conditional (determined in the register packing), skip as it will
       be stored in carry.
       If the iTemp is already packed from 1.c, skip
       If the iTemp is remat and some other magic, skip.
       Else set the number and type of registers based on the size of the iTemp.
3.  Assign registers for each segment.
    For each iCode, do
	If it is a IPOP (pop of an iTemp at the end of a block), reset the LR.
	De-assign the live ranges of the iTemps that expire here.
	    For each iTemp, do
	        If this iTemp is still alive, skip
		If this iTemp is spilt on the stack, free the location and continue.
		If there are no registers assigned (?), continue.
		Some magic using IFX and IPOP
		If the iTemp has no registers, continue.
		If the result of this iCode doesnt yet have registers, allocate them now.  Weird.
		Deallocate the registers used.
	Skip instructions that dont need registers (IFX, JUMPTABLE, POINTER_SET)
	Only assign registers to the result of this iCode.
	If the iCode has registers, or has been spilt, continue.
	If this will cause a spill as it needs more registers than are free, then
	    Find those that can be spilt.
	    Spill this if its easy.
	    Spill this if its the least used.
	Allocate registers to the result iTemp	   
	If any registers in the result are shared with the operand, make them line up.
4.  Create the register mask for each segment.
    For each iCode, do
	Set the used register bit vector from the used registers.
	Mark these registers as used in the higher function.  This lets the generator
	decide which registers need to be saved when calling or being called by a function.
	Hmm.  It seems to re-setup the used register bit vector.
5.  Redo the stack offsets.
6.  Turn the basic blocks into an intermediate code chain.
        Takes the array of basic blocks and pulls them out into one iCode chain.
7.  Optimise the labels in the iCode chain.
	Skipped if the label optimisations are turned off.
	Remove any gotos that go to the next line.
	Simplify any chained gotos
	Remove unreferenced labels
	Remove unreferenced code.
7.  Generate the mcs51 code from the iCode chain.
8.  Deallocate everything (registers and stack locations).

Sandeep:
--------
=======
Sandeep:
--------
The Register Allocation story.

Before I get into this there are a few important fields
on the iCode & oprtand data structures that need to be
addressed.

iCode.
-----
	->key  -  is an unique number assigned to this
                  iCode when this icode is allocated.

        ->seq  - sequence number of the iCode given in
	         ascending order of execution.

operand.
-------
	->key  - unique number for an operand when operand
                 is allocated.

OP_LIVEFROM(op) - sequence number of the iCode where it was
                  first defined. Computed in SDCClrange.c

OP_LIVETO(op)   - sequence number of the iCode where it is
                  last used. Computed in SDCClrange.c


                 

Sandeep:
--------
Adding memory maps for AVR, setup default map for
local & global variables in port.h will be initialised
by the _<port>_finaliseOptions() [good functions]..some
kludges remain because of the "overlay" segment for 8051.

The memory segment stuff will have to be made more flexible.
Currently there does not seem to be a 1-to-1 correspondence 
between storage class & memory map. (should there be??).

Also Added check for memory map in SDCCmem.c allocLocal
and allocglobal for "eeprom" memory space (AVR).



Michael:
--------
Tracing parmBytes and function calls.

Bug:
void printf(const char *format);

void puts(const char *s)
{
	printf(s);
}

Generates the pseudo-code:
	  hl = s
	  push hl
	  call printf
	  pop l (not hl - so parmBytes is too small)

parmBytes for a function call seems to be setup in geniCodeCall in
SDCCicode.c.

geniCodeCall:
* Takes care of calls with side effects (?)
* Generates the icode to push the parameters (this also computes the 
  resulting stack size)
* Generates a CALL or PCALL depending on if its a function or pointer to.
* Computes the result
* Adds the code for the call to the chain.

My bug is probably in geniCodeParms - it's probably computing the
size of pointers wrong.

geniCodeParms:
* A 'parm' node causes this to be run on the tree branches.
* It switches on the stack mode and sendto mode, and adds the
  instructions required to push or put.
* A push adds the result of 'getSize' to the stack size.

So the bug is probably in getSize.  's' is not an aggregate, so the
bug is in getSize().

It seems that IS_SPEC() is being set, deferencing *s so that it's size
is sizeof(char) == 1.  It's either a SPECIFIER or a DECLARATOR - seems that
were the wrong way around.  This is set in SDCCsymt.c, SDCCval.c, and the 
yacc file. SDCCsymt.c and SDCCval.c havnt really changed in 5 days - must
be SDCC.y.  Nope, no changes.  diff against 5 days ago shows only interesting
changes are in SDCCicode.  Same with -14 days.