Analyzing Exotic Instructions for a Retargetable Code Generator

Abstract

Exotic instructions are complex instructions, such as block move, string search, and string edit, which are found on most conventional computers. Recent retargetable code generator and instruction set analysis systems have not dealt with exotic instructions. A method to analyze exotic instructions is presented which provides the information needed by a retargetable code generator. The analysis uses source-to-source transformations to prove the equivalence of high-level language operators to exotic instructions. Examples are presented which illustrate the analysis process.