PowerPC Architecture Book, Version 2.02

Brad Frey
Published on February 24, 2005/Updated: November 16, 2005

Book I: PowerPC User Instruction Set Architecture

This book defines the PowerPC® User Instruction Set Architecture. It covers the base instruction set and related facilities available to the application programmer.

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Book II: PowerPC Virtual Environment Architecture

This book defines the additional instructions and facilities, beyond those of the PowerPC User Instruction Set Architecture, that are provided by the PowerPC Virtual Environment Architecture. It covers the storage model, related instructions and facilities available to the application programmer, and the Time Base as seen by the application programmer.

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Book III: PowerPC Operating Environment Architecture

This book defines the additional instructions and facilities, beyond those of the PowerPC User Instruction Set Architecture and PowerPC Virtual Environment Architecture, that are provided by the PowerPC Operating Environment Architecture. It covers instructions and facilities not available to the application programmer, affecting storage control, interrupts, and timing facilities.

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Additional information may be provided in other books that describe a particular processor implementation. Such books may describe approaches to obtaining the best performance, the results produced when a software error is encountered, and so forth.