1.5 Conventions Used in this Document

This document uses typographic and illustrative conventions described below.

1.5.1 Data Structure Descriptions

The Intel(R) Architecture processors of the IA-32 family are "little endian" machines. This means that the low-order byte of a multi-byte data item in memory is at the lowest address, while the high-order byte is at the highest address. Processors of the Itanium(R) Processor Family (IPF) may be configured for both "little endian" and "big endian" operation. All implementations designed to conform to this specification will use "little endian" operation.

In some memory layout descriptions, certain fields are marked reserved. Software must initialize such fields to zero, and ignore them when read. On an update operation, software must preserve any reserved field.

1.5.2 Protocol Descriptions

The protocols described in this document generally have the following format:

Protocol Name

The formal name of the protocol interface.

Summary

A brief description of the protocol interface.

GUID

The 128-bit Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) for the protocol interface.

Protocol Interface Structure

A "C-style" data structure definition containing the procedures and data fields produced by this protocol interface.

Parameters

A brief description of each field in the protocol interface structure.

Description

A description of the functionality provided by the interface, including any limitations and caveats of which the caller should be aware.

The type declarations and constants that are used in the protocol interface structure or any of its procedures.

1.5.3 Procedure Descriptions

The procedures described in this document generally have the following format:

ProcedureName()

The formal name of the procedure.

Summary

A brief description of the procedure.

Prototype

A "C-style" procedure header defining the calling sequence.

Parameters

A brief description of each field in the procedure prototype.

Description

A description of the functionality provided by the interface, including any limitations and caveats of which the caller should be aware.

The type declarations and constants that are used only by this procedure.

Status Codes Returned

A description of any codes returned by the interface. The procedure is required to implement any status codes listed in this table. Additional error codes may be returned, but they will not be tested by standard compliance tests, and any software that uses the procedure cannot depend on any of the extended error codes that an implementation may provide.

1.5.4 Pseudo-Code Conventions

Pseudo-code is presented to describe algorithms in a more concise form. None of the algorithms in this document are intended to be compiled directly. The code is presented at a level corresponding to the surrounding text.

In describing variables, a list is an unordered collection of homogeneous objects. A queue is an ordered list of homogeneous objects. Unless otherwise noted, the ordering is assumed to be FIFO.

Pseudo-code is presented in a C-like format, using C conventions where appropriate. The coding style, particularly the indentation style, is used for readability and does not necessarily comply with an implementation of the EFI Specification.

1.5.5 Typographic Conventions

The following typographic conventions are used in this document to illustrate programming concepts:

Code: This typeface is use to indicate code.

Argument: This typeface is used to indicate arguments.

register: This typeface is used to indicate a processor register.