====== Register Allocation ======
The PowerPC architecture offers 32 GPR's and 32 FPR's.

===== Register Usage =====

| Register | State | Use |
| R0 | volatile | method prologue, scratch register |
| R1 | dedicated | stack pointer |
| R2 | volatile | 1. parameter, return value |
| R3 | volatile | 2. parameter, return value (if long, lower 4 bytes of long)  |
| R4-R10 | volatile | further parameters |
| R11-R12 | volatile | local variables, working registers  |
| R13-R31 | nonvolatile | local variables, working registers   |
| F0 | volatile | working register |
| F1 | volatile | 1. parameter, return value |
| F2-F8 | volatile | further parameters |
| F9-F12 | volatile | local variables, working registers |
| F13-F19 | nonvolatile | local variables, working registers |
| F20-F22 | volatile | utility register for compiler specific subroutines|
| F23-F31 | nonvolatile | local variables, working registers |

Local variables are assigned volatile registers. However, if the live range of an SSA value incorporates a method call, a nonvolatile register has to be used. These will be assigned in decreasing order from R31/F31. As working registers volatile registers are used. If there are not enough of them, nonvolatiles (just below the locals) are assigned. \\ 
Optimization: If a method is a leaf method, it would not be necessary to copy the parameters from their volatile registers into nonvolatile registers.\\
For the translation of certain SSA instructions (e.g. of type long) further auxiliary registers are needed. They are assigned and reserved by the register allocator as well. If FPR's are needed for auxiliary registers, they are not reserved but F20..F22 will be used. They are exclusively used in compiler specific subroutines and never need saving.

==== Parameter Passing ====
Parameters are passed in R2..R10 and F1..F8.\\
In the interface //cgPPC/Registers// you can find the definitions about which registers are used for volatiles and nonvolatiles and which are used for parameter passing. Important: the number of parameter registers must be smaller or equal than the number of volatiles.