Taybin Rutkin <taybin(a)earthlink.net> writes: He called them "functions", not "instructions". I don't recall any such instructions back back when I worked on PowerPC. But, providing fast subroutine linkage for stuff like this is *very* RISC-like. It's really fundamental to the RISC approach. Many people misunderstand RISC. The goal is not to "reduce" the number of instructions. PowerPC has *lots* of instructions. The intent is to reduce the time required for all the frequently-used instructions to one fast clock cycle. Please forgive the long-winded reply, Taybin. I worked on this stuff for many years, and I still love it. :-) Regards, -- Jack O'Quin Austin, Texas, USA