VAX Architecture Reference Manual

This document serves as the authoritative, comprehensive, and precise reference for the VAX computer architecture. It details the system's design goals, terminology, instruction set, and hardware/software interfaces. Key sections include:

• Basic Architecture: Details on data types (byte, word, longword, floating-point), addressing, and register usage.
• Instruction Formats: Descriptions of variable-length instruction formats and addressing modes.
• Instructions: An extensive, categorized set of VAX instructions, including integer, address, bit field, and string operations.
• Memory Management: Specifications for virtual memory, page tables, protection, and translation buffer mechanisms.
• Exceptions and Interrupts: Coverage of processor priority levels, system control block, and fault handling.
• Process Structure: Details on process context, scheduling, and control blocks.
• System Architecture: Implications of the architecture on data sharing, synchronization, and I/O structure.
• Compatibility Mode: Emulation of the PDP-11 instruction set within the VAX architecture.
• Implementation Dependencies: Appendices detailing specific features for various VAX models (from MicroVAX to VAX 8800).