6.59.29 SPU Built-in Functions

GCC provides extensions for the SPU processor as described in the Sony/Toshiba/IBM SPU Language Extensions Specification. GCC’s implementation differs in several ways.

• The optional extension of specifying vector constants in parentheses is not supported.
• A vector initializer requires no cast if the vector constant is of the same type as the variable it is initializing.
• If signed or unsigned is omitted, the signedness of the vector type is the default signedness of the base type. The default varies depending on the operating system, so a portable program should always specify the signedness.
• By default, the keyword __vector is added. The macro vector is defined in <spu_intrinsics.h> and can be undefined.
• GCC allows using a typedef name as the type specifier for a vector type.
• For C, overloaded functions are implemented with macros so the following does not work:

  spu_add ((vector signed int){1, 2, 3, 4}, foo);

  Since spu_add is a macro, the vector constant in the example is treated as four separate arguments. Wrap the entire argument in parentheses for this to work.

• The extended version of __builtin_expect is not supported.

Note: Only the interface described in the aforementioned specification is supported. Internally, GCC uses built-in functions to implement the required functionality, but these are not supported and are subject to change without notice.