I don't have any MSP boards. And I have CCS 5.4, not CCS 4. But I was able to create that same project, and I have a guess as to what is happening.
The compiler builds with a default optimization level that is probably causing most of your confusion. Statements get reordered, variables get assigned to registers, and the like. You can disable all optimization by setting the compiler build option --opt_level=off. Below I show a screen shot of what that looks like in CCS 5.4. It is probably similar in CCS 4.
Thanks and regards,
-George
