9 Machine Dependent Features

The machine instruction sets are (almost by definition) different on each machine where as runs. Floating point representations vary as well, and as often supports a few additional directives or command-line options for compatibility with other assemblers on a particular platform. Finally, some versions of as support special pseudo-instructions for branch optimization.

This chapter discusses most of these differences, though it does not include details on any machine’s instruction set. For details on that subject, see the hardware manufacturer’s manual.