Alignment

Memory location

• A variable is located at the memory location that is specified by the size of its data type and by the alignment.
• If the data type is smaller than or equal to the alignment of the system, the memory location of the variable is equivalent to a multiple of the data type size.
• If the data type is larger than the alignment of the system, the memory location of the variable is equivalent to a multiple of the alignment.
• A structured data type (structure, function block) is located at the memory location that is specified by the size of the largest data type in the structure and by the alignment.
• If the largest data type is smaller than or equal to the alignment of the system, the memory location of the structure instance is equivalent to a multiple of this data type size.
• If the largest data type is larger than the alignment of the system, the memory location of the structure instance is equivalent to a multiple of the alignment.

Memory space

• From the above memory location a variable takes up as much memory as is determined by the size of its data type.
• A structured data type (structure, function block) takes up the amount of memory space, starting from the above memory location, as is specified by the size of the largest data type in the structure and by the alignment.
• If the largest data type is smaller than or equal to the alignment of the system, the memory space taken up by the structure instance is equivalent to a multiple of this data type size.
• If the largest data type is larger than the alignment of the system, the memory space taken up by the structure instance is equivalent to a multiple of the alignment.

These alignment rules may result in implicit padding bytes.

Please note (e.g. for a memory comparison with the help of the Tc2 system function MEMCMP), that padding bytes are not initialized.

Sample 1 (TwinCAT 3)

TYPE ST_Test1 :
STRUCT
    fVar   : LREAL;  // 8 Byte 
    nVar1  : DINT;   // 4 Byte 
    nVar2  : SINT;   // 1 Byte 
    (* 3 filler bytes to reach a limit corresponding to the largest data type (divisible by 8 byte) *)
END_STRUCT
END_TYPE

TYPE ST_Test2 :
STRUCT
    nVar2  : SINT;   // 1 Byte 
    (* 3 filler bytes to reach a limit corresponding to the following data type (divisible by 4 byte) *)
    nVar1  : DINT;   // 4 Byte 
    fVar   : LREAL;  // 8 Byte 
END_STRUCT
END_TYPE

TYPE ST_Test3 :
STRUCT
    nVar2  : SINT;   // 1 Byte 
    (* 7 filler bytes to reach a limit corresponding to the following data type (divisible by 8 byte) *)
    fVar   : LREAL;  // 8 Byte 
    nVar1  : DINT;   // 4 Byte 
    (* 4 filler bytes to reach a limit corresponding to the largest data type (divisible by 8 byte) *)
END_STRUCT
END_TYPE

Due to the 8-byte alignment of TwinCAT 3, implicit padding bytes are added. The overall size of the structures can vary, although they contain three variables of the same data type.

On a system with 1-byte alignment the three structures would have the same memory requirement of 13 bytes.

Sample 2

TYPE ST_Test :
STRUCT
    nDWORD : DWORD;   // 4 Byte
    (* With an 8-byte alignment: 4 filler bytes *)
    nLWORD : LWORD;   // 8 Byte
END_STRUCT
END_TYPE

With a 4-byte alignment the structure has a size of 12 bytes. No padding bytes are inserted. Reason:

• The variable nLWORD is located in a memory location that is equivalent to a multiple of the alignment, since its data type (8 bytes) is larger than the alignment (4 bytes).
• The structured data type takes up an amount of memory space equivalent to a multiple of the alignment, since the largest data type in the structure (8 bytes) is larger than the alignment (4 bytes).

With an 8-byte alignment, conversely, the structure has a size of 16 bytes, since 4 padding bytes are inserted between the two variables. Reason:

• The variable nLWORD is located in a memory location that is equivalent to a multiple of the size of its data type, since its data type (8 bytes) is smaller than or equal to the alignment (8 bytes).
• The structured data type takes up an amount of memory space equivalent to a multiple of the size of the largest data type, since the largest data type in the structure (8 bytes) is smaller than or equal to the alignment (8 bytes).