Programmers Model
ARM DDI 0363G Copyright © 2006-2011 ARM Limited. All rights reserved. 3-5
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3.4 Data structures
The processor supports these data types:
• doubleword, 64-bit
• word, 32-bit
• halfword, 16-bit
• byte, 8-bit.
• When any of these types are described as unsigned, the N-bit data value represents a
non-negative integer in the range 0 to +2
N
-1, using normal binary format.
• When any of these types are described as signed, the N-bit data value represents an integer
in the range -2
N-1
to +2
N-1
-1, using two’s complement format.
For best performance you must align these data types in memory as follows:
• doubleword quantities aligned to 8-byte boundaries, doubleword aligned
• word quantities aligned to 4-byte boundaries, word aligned
• halfword quantities aligned to 2-byte boundaries halfword aligned
• byte quantities can be placed on any byte boundary.
The processor supports mixed-endian and unaligned access. For more information, see
Unaligned and mixed-endian data access support on page 3-26.
You cannot use
LDRD
,
LDM
,
STRD
, or
STM
instructions to access 32-bit quantities if they are not
32-bit aligned.