SPU intrinsics are grouped into the three classes that are
described in this section.
- Specific Intrinsics — Intrinsics that have a one-to-one mapping
with a single assembly-language instruction. Programmers rarely need these
intrinsics for implementing inline assembly code because the Joint Software
Reference Environment (JSRE) has adopted gcc-style inline assembly.
- Generic Intrinsics — Intrinsics that map to one or more assembly-language
instructions as a function of the type of input parameters.
- Composite Intrinsics — Convenience intrinsics constructed from
a sequence of specific or generic intrinsics.
Intrinsics are not provided for all assembly-language instructions. Some
assembly-language instructions (for example, branches, branch hints, and interrupt
return) are naturally accessible through the C/C++ language semantics. Many
SPU intrinsics are different than PPE intrinsics (see Differences between PPE and SPE SIMD support).