The PPE and the programming process

This chapter describes the PowerPC Processor Element (PPE) registers, the PPE’s two instruction sets, and the C-language intrinsics for the PPE and Vector/SIMD Multimedia Extension instructions.

The PowerPC Processor Element introduced the organization and functions of the PowerPC Processor Element (PPE). This chapter describes the relation between the PPE and Synergistic Processor Element (SPE) address spaces.

Examples are provided of:

PPE-initiated DMA transfers between main storage and an SPE’s local store (LS).
PPE thread-creation for the SPE.

PPE registers
This section describes the complete set of PowerPC Processor Element (PPE) user (problem-state) registers.
PPE instruction sets
The PowerPC Processor Element (PPE) supports two instruction sets: the PowerPC instruction set and the Vector/SIMD Multimedia Extension instruction set.
The PPE and the SPEs
This section describes the relationship between the PowerPC Processor Element (PPE) and the Synergistic Processor Elements (SPEs).
Developing code for the Cell Broadband Engine
There can be several types of programs, including PPE programs, SPE programs, and Cell Broadband Engine programs (PPE programs with embedded SPE programs).