next up previous contents index
Next: 16.3 Address maps and Up: 16 Address Map Manager: Previous: 16.1 Introduction

16.2 Addresses and attributes

The AMM attempts to be general by making very few assumptions about addresses or attributes. An address is defined as an arbitrary unsigned integer of some reasonable size (typically 32 or 64 bits). The value of the integer is not interpreted by AMM in any way. The only assumption that the AMM makes about addresses is that two addresses are considered contiguous (i.e., represent adjacent pieces of a resource) if their integer values are consecutive. This is an intuitive assumption and not likely to be a restriction for many (any?) uses.

Attributes are represented using an opaque flag word (again, an integer of reasonable size). The only assumption that AMM makes about attributes is that the attributes of two addresses are identical if their flag words have the same integer value. This again is a fairly obvious assumption. Note that though the flag word appears to limit the number of possible attributes to 32 or 64 single-bit values, the user can actually define arbitrary attributes for an address by associating additional state with the address. Section 16.5 explains how this is done.



University of Utah Flux Research Group