Instruction types

The PowerPC Processor Element (PPE)'s PowerPC instructions can have up to three operands. Most computational instructions specify two source operands and one destination operand.

The PPE’s PowerPC instructions include the following types:

Integer Instructions – These include arithmetic, compare, logical, and rotate/shift instructions. They operate on byte, halfword, word, and doubleword operands.
Floating-Point Instructions – These include floating-point arithmetic, multiply-add, compare, and move instructions, as well as instructions that affect the Floating-Point Status and Control Register (FPSCR). Floating-point instructions operate on single-precision and double-precision floating-point operands.
Load and Store Instructions – These include integer and floating-point load and store instructions, with byte-reverse, multiple, and string options for the integer loads and stores.
Memory Synchronization Instructions – These instructions control the order in which memory operations are completed with respect to asynchronous events, and the order in which memory operations are seen by other processors or memory-access mechanisms. The instruction types include load and store with reservation, synchronization, and enforce in-order execution of I/O. They are especially useful for multiprocessing.
Flow Control Instructions – These include branch, Condition-Register logical, trap, and other instructions that affect the instruction flow.
Processor Control Instructions – These instructions are used for synchronizing memory accesses and managing caches, Translation Lookaside Buffers (TLBs), segment registers, and other privileged processor states. They include move-to/from special-purpose register instructions.
Memory and Cache Control Instructions – These instructions control caches, TLBs, and segment registers.
External Control Instructions – These instructions allow a user-level program to communicate with a special-purpose device.