TL;DR: The 32-bit constant you want to load into x2 is 0xffffffff which corresponds to -1. Since -1 is in the range [-2048, 2047], this constant can be loaded with a single instruction: addi x2, zero, -1. You can also use the li pseudoinstruction: li, x2, -1 which the assembler, in turn, translates to addi … Read more
The difference is that with $ it’s the numeric value while without $ it’s the contents of memory at that address If argument of instruction is without any special marker (such as % for register or $ for numeric constant), then it is memory access. So following: movl 10, %eax movl foo, %eax Corresponds to … Read more
It is a trick/shortcut. say for example ldr r0,=main what would happen is the assembler would allocate a data word, near the instruction but outside the instruction path ldr r0,main_addr … b somewhere main_addr: .data main Now expand that trick to constants/immediates, esp those that cannot fit into a move immediate instruction: top: add r1,r2,r3 … Read more