Chapter 5. Comparison, Branches, and Predication
In previous chapters, we developed some fundamental topics of computer architecture and illustrated them with brief Itanium assembly language programs. Yet all of the programs presented thus far have been unrepresentative of real-world programs in one crucial respect: They did not contain any data-dependent decisions that might have dynamically altered the flow of control.
In a high-level language, control structures may include loops (while…do or do…until) and logical or data-dependent decision constructs (if…then…else and case choices). In this and later chapters we are going to see how those powerful constructs for designing and imparting orderliness to computer programs can be built up from ...
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