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QPACK Byte processing in queue structures with LUUO's
Written by Ernie Petrides, Wesleyan University, August, 1978
FORWARD
LUUO's (local unimplemented user operations) provide the programmer
with a means of calling special subroutines while taking advantage of the
accumulator assignment and the complete effective address calculation (done
automatically by the central processor) to use as subroutine arguments. The
LUUO can behave much the same way as a normal instruction, with a data fetch
from the effective address and an action done to the specified AC, but it is
a software routine as opposed to a hardware routine. The operation codes of
octal 1-37 cause the instruction in the user's location .JB41 (see job data
area) to be executed out of sequence after the op-code, AC, and E fields are
loaded into user's location .JBUUO. Since the instruction in .JB41 can do a
standard subroutine call (PUSHJ, JSR, etc.; must save PC) to a routine that
dispatches according to the LUUO executed (op-field), the normal burdens of
a subroutine call are already accounted for without tying up the AC or E
fields of the original intruction. And since an LUUO is a single instruction
(as opposed to a macro call), it can be easily skipped over, jumped around,
stored in literals, and XCT'ed.
The contents of .JBUUO are not normally preserved by QPACK LUUO's.
Abstract
QPACK is a software package designed to handle the storage & retrieval
of bytes in first-in/first-out queue data structures. The actual routines are
executed with LUUO's and are therefore transparent to the user's program. The
dispatcher transfers control to the routine corresponding to the LUUO op-code.
There are seventeen instructions contained in QPACK: "PULL", "PUSHI", and fif-
teen queue instructions all beginning with the letter "Q".
To use QPACK, the user needs only to put a "SEARCH QPACK" statement at
the beginning of his/her MACRO program to look up the necessary op-codes (plus
other symbols and macros used with queue instructions) and to include QPACK in
the .LOAD or .EXECUTE command strings.
Using the queue instructions
The queue instructions were intentionally designed to be simple to use
for basic requirements. They are much like monitor calls, with error returns
and normal (skip) returns. Queue processing is done through a four-word queue
header, which must be in the user's program. The "MAKEQ" macro is provided to
facilitate its creation:
QNAME: MAKEQ (SIZE) ;MAKE A HEADER SETTING THE DEFAULT QUEUE SIZE
Normally the program just needs data stored for itself; the header
is put in the low segment. Each time a queue is initialized, QPACK reserves
the specified (or default) number of words following the user's low segment
(expanding core if necessary) just like the monitor when it reserves buffer
space, and a pointer to the data area is put in the header. If the queue is
killed, the pointer is preserved and the current size becomes the new default
size. If the queue is reinitialized, an attempt is made to use the same data
space. Thus the actual queue area is not the responsibility of the user's
program. Note that a "RESET" UUO should not be done after using a queue!
If a sharable queue is needed, the queue header must be made in the
high segment (which must be un-write-protected during run time). When the
"MAKEQ" macro is used in the high segment, it reserves the queue data area
immediately after the queue header. The "SIZE" argument specifies how many
words to reserve and is the only permissible queue size. High segment queues
are not dynamically allocated, as are low segment queues, and are not affected
by a "RESET" UUO. Note that it is the segment in which the queue header is
assembled that defines the type of queue.
CAUTION: Some of the queue instruction routines test for a -1 with an "AOJE",
causing an overflow for an argument of octal 377777,,777777 (or 2**35-1).
Details on how queue instructions work
Following is a picture of a queue header:
-------------------------------------------------
QNAME: ! i n t e r l o c k !
-------------------------------------------------
! stats ! owner !retries! bsize ! queue size !
-------------------------------------------------
! last byte pulled (bt) ! last byte pushed (tp) !
-------------------------------------------------
! data area address ! queue byte capacity !
-------------------------------------------------
Status bits (second word):
QS.SLP bit 0 sleep a jiffy before retrying interlock
QS.INI bit 1 queue is initialized (currently owned)
QS.FRZ bit 2 queue is frozen (most instructions won't work)
QS.SEN bit 3 non-owners may check status/position of queue
QS.REN bit 4 queue is read-enabled for non-owners
QS.WEN bit 5 queue is write-enabled for non-owners
The first word is an interlock set to -1 each time a queue instruction
finishes. If the interlock is not -1, an instruction is not allowed to start,
thus preventing two jobs from using the queue at once. The "retries" byte
specifies the number of times to retry the interlock before giving up, first
sleeping a jiffy if bit 0 is set in status byte.
The owner is the job number that initializes the queue. Instructions
have associated privileges, or status bit settings, that must match if the
instruction is to be performed. In place of QS.SLP, an owner bit is used to
mark the instruction as being requested by the owner job. A different set of
privileges is used for non-owners, and certain instructions are owner priv-
ileged. If the required status setting is not matched, the 'QNP' error is
returned with the number of the unmatched bit (plus one) as the error code
number. Freezing the queue disables all instructions except "QKILL" (for
preserved kills), "QFRZE" (to unfreeze queue), and "QSAVE".
The byte size is specified in bits 18-23 of the AC on a "QINIT" or
"QREIN". If it is not given or is greater than 36, then full-word bytes
are assumed. Symbols for standard byte sizes in the appropriate field are
provided in the QPACK universal file (along with the status bit symbols).
.QZSXB=60000 .QZASC=70000 .QZXWD=220000 .QZWRD=440000
Synopsis of instructions in QPACK
**ALL INSTRUCTIONS USE AN ACCUMULATOR AND FULL EFFECTIVE ADDRESS CALCULATION**
PULL AC,E Increment both halves of AC (error if left reaches 0) and put
the contents of the word pointed to by AC(R) in E.
PUSHI AC,E Just like a regular PUSH, except that the word 0,,E is what
gets pushed.
QINIT AC,E Initialize a queue. AC optionally contains any information
kept in 2nd header word and is SET UP*.
QKILL AC,E Terminate a queue. AC = -1 preserves queue for QREIN by this
job only. AC always cleared. Owner-privileged.
QRSET AC,E Reset queue pointers as if queue were empty. AC is always
ignored and is SET UP*. Owner-privileged.
QFRZE AC,E AC /= 0 freezes queue (AC cleared); AC = 0 unfreezes queue (AC
SET UP*). Owner-privileged.
**QGIVE AC,E Give ownership of queue to job number in AC. AC cleared (or
SET UP* if specified self or no one). Owner-privileged.
**QOTHR AC,E Set privilege level for non-owners: 0-none, 1-status, 2-read,
3-write. Previous level returned. Owner-privileged.
**QRTYL AC,E Set retry level. Bits 18-35 give number of retries; bit 0 on
to sleep. Previous level returned. Owner-privileged.
**QREIN AC,E Same as QINIT, but allowed only after a preserved kill. Allows
owner to retain queue for new init. Owner-privileged.
**QSAVE AC,E Save the queue. AC = -1 to break interlock (cleared); AC = 0
to attempt a steal from owner (set to previous owner).
QSTAT AC,E AC specifies and set to positive byte number or negative word
number of header. AC = 0 returns no. of bytes used.
QWHRE AC,E Locate front or back of queue. AC /= 0 for pushing (top);
AC = 0 for pulling or reading (bottom). AC is SET UP*.
In all above queue instructions, E specifies the queue header address, and
* means AC is set up for one of the four work instructions that follow, where
AC(L) specifies the header address and AC(R) specifies a byte position.
** means that this instruction is only needed for sharable queues.
The following four work instructions all leave AC SET UP as explained above.
QREAD AC,E Read a byte from the queue following the position specified in
AC(R) and deposit in E if E is non-zero. AC is SET UP.
QPULL AC,E Pull the bottom byte from the queue and deposit in E if E is
non-zero. AC(R) is ignored. AC is SET UP.
QPUSH AC,E Push onto top of queue the right-justified byte in E. AC(R)
is ignored. AC is SET UP.
QPUSHI AC,E Same as QPUSH, but take the byte from the word 0,,E.
Error handling in queue instructions
All queue instructions give two returns: normal (skip) returns
and error (non-skip) returns. On error returns, the AC used in the LUUO
is given a three-letter SIXBIT error prefix starting with 'Q' in the left
half and an error code number in the right half. If the queue is full on
a push, empty on a pull, or empty in the specified read position, then the
AC is simply cleared. The error codes are listed below.
QNP 1 owner-privileged instruction attempted by non-owner
" 2 queue is not initialized (or is already initialized)
" 3 queue is frozen
" 4-6 privilege not granted because non-owner
QHA 7 illegal header address (no interlock)
QWP 10 header in write-protected high segment (no interlock)
QIF 11 queue interlock failure (no interlock)
QAR 12 argument out of range
QCE 13 can't expand core for low segment init.
QBJ 14 bad job number in attempting to give away queue
QCS 15 can't steal queue because current owner is legit.
QRP 16 illegal read position (only if not within queue bounds)
QWS 17 queue in wrong segment for requested operation
QSL 20 segment limitations because of assembly switch
End of QPACK.DOC