[LispM-Hackers] Help! Confusion about "registers"

[John Morrison]

Hi;

I am trying to implement the first CALL opcode (1 argument with
results to indicators), and I have a (possibly colossally dumb)
question about the SSDN2 paragraph number 11.4 entitled "Stack Layout"
on page 11-6 and succeeding pages.

It mentions that call state is kept in the five registers:
   M-CALL-INFO
   M-ARGUMENT-POINTER
   M-LOCAL-POINTER
   M-FEF
   LOCATION-COUNTER

Please trust me when I tell you I looked for the answer to the
following question in SSND2 but didn't find the answer written clearly
enough for me to understand.  I am also hampered somewhat by the fact
these PDF images are not searchable.

What, if any, is the relationship between these "registers" beginning
with "M-" and the low-memory "M Memory" locations?  Are these "real"
registers that do not appear anywhere in the memory map?

If they are real registers, I presume that (when restarting/restarting
a stack group as I guess I'm doing at the present cold boot time just
prior to starting the first macro instruction), I should restore these
registers from some place where they're saved in the stack group.

If not, I presume they're memory-mapped, and presumably they are
already sitting happily in the Right Place in restored world.

Confusedly But Expectantly Yours,

-jm

-- 
==== John Morrison
==== MAK Technologies Inc.
==== 185 Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge, MA 02138
==== http://www.mak.com/
==== vox:617-876-8085 x115
==== fax:617-876-9208
==== jm@mak.com