CS10 – Lab 1 notes, Introduction to MARS and MIPS

Introduction to MIPS/MARS

Computer = programmable information processing machine.

Major components = CPU, Memory, and Input/Output (often called I/O)

CPU: contains 32 user registers = storage for data within the CPU

$zero - Contains a value of 0

$t0 - $t9 - Temporaries
$s0 - $s7 - Saved
$a0 - $a3 - Arguments
$v0 and $v1 - Return values

The contents of these registers are used as operands in the program instructions. Although all these registers are
general purpose (can be used to store any kind of data), there are conventions for typical usage, as indicated.

There are also 7 other registers with specific purposes that you will soon learn more about.

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 CS10 – Lab 1 notes, Introduction to MARS and MIPS

• Each register contains a 32-bit value (32-digit binary/base 2 number)

• A byte is an 8-bit unit, a word is a 4-byte or 32-bit unit.
• We often represent the values in hexadecimal (base 16), to be concise

$zero always contains a value of 0, which is stored in 32 bits:

0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 00002 , is equivalent to:
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 016

Groups of 4 binary digits can easily be converted to hexadecimal:

Decimal Binary Hexadecimal

0 0000 0
1 0001 1
2 0010 2
3 0011 3
4 0100 4
5 0101 5
6 0110 6
7 0111 7
8 1000 8
9 1001 9
10 1010 A
11 1011 B
12 1100 C
13 1101 D
14 1110 E
15 1111 F

Another example of binary to hexadecimal conversion:

0010 0100 0011 0101 1000 1100 0001 11112 , is equivalent to:
2 4 3 5 8 C 1 F16

Memory:
There are 232 – 1 locations or addresses in memory in which a byte (8 bits) of information can be stored.
The locations can contain data or program instructions (although these are shown as mnemonics below, they are
actually stored as numeric values).
Each instruction in MIPS is 32 bits (one word) long.

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 CS10 – Lab 1 notes, Introduction to MARS and MIPS

Address Memory Usage in MARS


1004000016 Heap and Stack (learn more later)

1001000016 Data Segment (Data with fixed size)

0040000016 Text Segment (Program Instructions)

0000000016 Reserved

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 CS10 – Lab 1 notes, Introduction to MARS and MIPS

MIPS instructions for use in Lab #1

Arithmetic (R-type) Instructions

add $t3,$t1,$t2 #add, $t3 <- contents of $t1 + contents of $t2

addi $t3, $t1,5 #add immediate,$t3 <- contents of $t1 + 5

Memory Access Instructions

lw $t1,label #load word, $t1 <- value of word stored at memory address/location specified by label

lw $t1,3($s0) #load word, $t1 <= value of word stored at memory address (base address in $s0 + 3)

sw $t1,label #store word, stores value of word in $t1 to address/location in memory specified by label
(lw and sw can also be byte or halfword, i.e. lb, lh, sb,sh)

Pseudo-instructions
Not part of the basic MIPS instruction set but used for programmer’s convenience. These instructions translate
to basic MIPS instructions when the program is assembled (but those basic instructions are not as intuitive from
a programmer’s perspective).

li $t1, 3 #load immediate, $t1 <- 3

la $s1, label #load address, $s1 <- address corresponding to label

move $t1,$t2 #move, move contents of $t2 to $t1

Directives – are not instructions, but you use them in your program to tell the assembler how to store your
program in memory

.text
.globl main
Precedes your text segment (program instructions), and specifies main as a global symbol (recognized
by other files in a multi-file project

.data
Precedes your data segment (data declarations)
(text segment can come before data segment, or vice versa)

.ascii “string”
Defines a string of characters (each character is stored as a 1-byte ascii value)

.asciiz “string”
Defines a null-terminated string (ends with a null byte)

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 CS10 – Lab 1 notes, Introduction to MARS and MIPS

.byte b0,b1,b2
Defines and initializes subsequent bytes in memory

.half h0,h1,h2
Defines and initializes subsequent half-words (16-bit
values – alignment forced to next even address

.word w0,w1,w2
Defines and initializes subsequent words (32-bit values)
– alignment forced to next word address (multiple of 4)

.space n
allocates n bytes of space, usually initialized to 0

SYSCALL functions overview

System services used for input/output (I/O)

How to use SYSCALL system services

1. Load the service number in register $v0.
2. Load argument values, if any, in $a0, $a1, or $a2
3. Issue the SYSCALL instruction.
4. Retrieve return values, if any, from result registers

Table of Commonly Used Services

Service $v0 Arguments Result
print integer 1 $a0 = integer to print
print string 4 $a0 = address of null terminated string to print
read integer 5 $v0 contains integer read
read string 8 $a0=address of input buffer
$a1=max. # of chars. to read
exit (stop execution) 10

print character 11 $a0=character to print

read character 12 $v0 contains character read
open file 13 $a0=address of null-terminated string containing filename $a0 contains file descriptor
$a1=flags (- if error)
$a2=mode
read from file 14 $a0 = file descriptor $a0 contains # of chars read
$a1=address of output buffer (0=EOF,- if error)
$a2=max. # of chars to read
write to file 15 $a0 = file descriptor $a0 contains # chars written
$a1=address of output buffer (- if error)
$a2= # of chars to write
close file 16 $a0 = file descriptor

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 CS10 – Lab 1 notes, Introduction to MARS and MIPS

Examples of Simple I/O for lab #1

#print an integer
li $v0,1 # load service number into $v0
li $a0,5 # load value to be printed into $a0
syscall

#print a null-terminated string

li $v0,4 #load service number in $v0
la $a0,prompt_string
#load address of string to be printed into $a0
Syscall #the null-terminated string must also be defined in the data segment!

.data
prompt_string: .asciiz “Enter a value: “

#read in an integer
li $v0,5 #load service number in $v0
syscall #the value entered by the user is returned in $v0
move $t0,$v0 #store value entered into another register

#read in a string
li $v0,8 #load service number in $v0
la $a0,answer #put address of answer string in $a0
lw $a1,alength #put length of string in $a1
syscall #answer and alength must be defined in data segment!

.data
answer: .space 50 #allocate space for string to be stored
alength: .word 50 #length of string to be entered

#terminate execution of program

#should always be the final instructions executed in program
li $v0,10 #load service number in $v0
syscall

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