MPLAB C Compiler for PIC24 MCUs and dsPIC DSCs ... - Microchip

16-Bit C Compiler User’s Guide
noload
The noload attribute indicates that space should be allocated for the function, but that
the actual code should not be loaded into memory. This attribute could be useful if an
application is designed to load a function into memory at run time, such as from a serial
EEPROM.
void bar() __attribute__ ((noload)) {
...
}
noreturn
A few standard library functions, such as abort and exit, cannot return. The compiler
knows this automatically. Some programs define their own functions that never
return. You can declare them noreturn to tell the compiler this fact. For example:
void fatal (int i) __attribute__ ((noreturn));
void
fatal (int i)
{
/* Print error message. */
exit (1);
}
The noreturn keyword tells the compiler to assume that fatal cannot return. It can
then optimize without regard to what would happen if fatal ever did return. This
makes slightly better code. Also, it helps avoid spurious warnings of uninitialized
variables.
It does not make sense for a noreturn function to have a return type other than void.
section ("section-name")
Normally, the compiler places the code it generates in the .text section. Sometimes,
however, you need additional sections, or you need certain functions to appear in
special sections. The section attribute specifies that a function lives in a particular
section. For example, consider the declaration:
extern void foobar (void) __attribute__ ((section (".libtext")));
This puts the function foobar in the .libtext section.
The section attribute conflicts with the address attribute. The section name will be
ignored with a warning.
secure
This attribute directs the compiler to allocate a function in the secure segment of
program Flash.
For example, to declare a protected function:
void __attribute__((secure)) func();
An optional argument can be used to specify a protected access entry point within the
secure segment. The argument may be a literal integer in the range 0 to 31 (except
16), or the word unused. Integer arguments correspond to 32 instruction slots in the
segment access area, which occupies the lowest address range of each secure segment.
The value 16 is excluded because access entry 16 is reserved for the secure
segment interrupt vector. The value unused is used to specify a function for all of the
unused slots in the access area.
DS51284H-page 24 © 2008 Microchip Technology Inc.