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I think for this reason
[re-positioned below]
we should stick with fixed vle8, vle16, vle32,
vle, in base encoding {8,16,32,SEW}. These are more readable and can
be used to interleave load/stores of larger than SEW values without
changing vtype (e.g., moving 32b values when SEW=16).

[re-positioned here]
For load/store instructions, we could modify these to have relative
element widths that are fractions of SEW {SEW, SEW/2, SEW/4, SEW/8}.
Assembly syntax could be something like vle, vlef2, vlef4, vlfe8.
There is a challenge in readability that these are relative to last
vtype setting,

SEW and LMUL values are essential to correct code execution regardless of load/store width encoding.

They should be assembler directive variables set automatically by vsetvli (and vsetvl when its xs2 argument is statically defined).

For dynamic xs2 and vsetvl, a manual assembler directive should be available.

This should help in various situations, including validation that SEW/LMUL ratio is maintained by a given vsetvli, and also for load/store syntax:

With this in place the assembler code can translate e8 to the corre

      and also when SEW is less than 64, some become useless.

ct SEW * factor value in load/stores eliminating the readability concern.

I agree that the base should have as robust an encoding without over committing available bits.

Thus I would want to also want to move 32b when SEW=16, and in addition

• move 64b values when SEW=16
• move 64b values when SEW=256, or 128 or 512
• and various more combinations
• and not waste encoding when SEW < 64.

I also believe that load/store are so important, so pivotal (e.g. matrix transforms) that flexibility and efficiency are both mandated.

The compress load/store format seeks to address efficiency.

The encoding needs the flexibility of SEW * factors.

I propose the factors be depent upon current SEW value

For SEW=8 the encoding yields factors of 1,2,4 and 8

For SEW=16 the encoding yields factors of 1/2, 1, 2 and 4

For SEW of 32 and above the encoding yields factors of 1/4, 1/2, 1 and 2.

Thus we always support LEW = SEW *2 operations and support load/store SEW/2 and SEW/4 when they exist.