MIPS Hello World MIPS Assembly 1

# Hello, World!
.data ## Data declaration section
## String to be printed:
out_string: .asciiz "\nHello, World!\n"

.text ## Assembly language instructions go in text segment

main: ## Start of code section
li $v0, 4 # system call code for printing string = 4
la $a0, out_string # load address of string to be printed into $a0
syscall # call operating system to perform operation
# specified in $v0
# syscall takes its arguments from $a0, $a1, ...

li $v0, 10 # terminate program

syscall

This illustrates the basic structure of an assembly language program.

- data segment and text segment
- use of label for data object (which is a zero-terminated ASCII string)
- use of registers
- invocation of a system call

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MIPS Register Names MIPS Assembly 2

MIPS assemblers support standard symbolic names for the general-purpose registers:

$zero stores value 0; cannot be modified

$v0-1 used for system calls and procedure return values
$a0-3 used for passing arguments to procedures
$t0-9 used for local storage; calling procedure saves these
$s0-7 used for local storage; called procedure saves these

And for the reserved registers:

$sp stack pointer

$fp frame pointer; primarily used during stack manipulations
$ra used to store return address in procedure call
$gp pointer to area storing global data (data segment)

$at reserved for use by the assembler

$k0-1 reserved for use by OS kernel

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MIPS Arithmetic Instructions MIPS Assembly 3

All arithmetic and logical instructions have 3 operands

Operand order is fixed (destination first):

<opcode> <dest>, <leftop>, <rightop>

Example:

C code: a = b + c;

MIPS code: add $s0, $s3, $s2

“The natural number of operands for an operation like addition is three…requiring every
instruction to have exactly three operands, no more and no less, conforms to the
philosophy of keeping the hardware simple”

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Basic MIPS Arithmetic Instructions MIPS Assembly 4

Here are the most basic arithmetic instructions:

add $rd,$rs,$rt Addition with overflow
GPR[rd] <-- GPR[rs] + GPR[rt]
div $rs,$rt Division with overflow
$lo <-- GPR[rs]/GPR[rt]
$hi <-- GPR[rs]%GPR[rt]
mul $rd,$rs,$rt Multiplication without overflow
GPR[rd] <-- (GPR[rs]*GPR[rt])[31:0]
sub $rd,$rs,$rt Subtraction with overflow
GPR[rd] <-- GPR[rs] - GPR[rt]

Instructions "with overflow" will generate an runtime exception if the computed result is
too large to be stored correctly in 32 bits.

There are also versions of some of these that essentially ignore overflow, like addu.

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Limitations and Trade-offs MIPS Assembly 5

Design Principle: simplicity favors regularity.

Of course this complicates some things...

C code: a = b + c + d;

MIPS pseudo-code: add $s0, $s1, $s2

add $s0, $s0, $s3

Operands must be registers (or immediates), only 32 registers are provided

Each register contains 32 bits

Design Principle: smaller is faster.

Why?

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Immediates MIPS Assembly 6

In MIPS assembly, immediates are literal constants.

Many instructions allow immediates to be used as parameters.

addi $t0, $t1, 42 # note the opcode

li $t0, 42 # actually a pseudo-instruction

Note that immediates cannot be used with all MIPS assembly instructions; refer to your
MIPS reference card.

Immediates may also be expressed in hexadecimal: 0x2A

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MIPS Logical Instructions MIPS Assembly 7

Logical instructions also have three operands and the same format as the arithmetic
instructions:

<opcode> <dest>, <leftop>, <rightop>

Examples:

and $s0, $s1, $s2 # bitwise AND

andi $s0, $s1, 42
or $s0, $s1, $s2 # bitwise OR
ori $s0, $s1, 42
nor $s0, $s1, $s2 # bitwise NOR (i.e., NOT OR)
sll $s0, $s1, 10 # logical shift left
srl $s0, $s1, 10 # logical shift right

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MIPS Load and Store Instructions MIPS Assembly 8

Transfer data between memory and registers

Example:

C code: A[12] = h + A[8];

MIPS code: lw $t0, 32($s3) # $t0 <-- Mem[$s3+32]

add $t0, $s2, $t0
sw $t0, 48($s3) # Mem[$s3+48] <-- $t0

Can refer to registers by name (e.g., $s2, $t2) instead of number

Load command specifies destination first: opcode <dest>, <address>

Store command specifies destination last: opcode <dest>, <address>

Remember arithmetic operands are registers or immediates, not memory!

Can’t write: add 48($s3), $s2, 32($s3)

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Labels MIPS Assembly 9

In MIPS assembly, a label is simply a string used to name a location in memory.

A label may refer to the location of a data value (variable) or of an instruction.

In essence, think of a label as representing an address.

Labels are terminated by a colon character.

.data
N: .word 10

.text

main:
lw $t0, N # $t0 <-- Mem[N] (10)
la $t1, N # $t1 <-- N (address)
. . .
exit: li $v0, 10
syscall

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Addressing Modes MIPS Assembly 10

In register mode the address is simply the value in a register:

lw $t0, ($s3) # use value in $s3 as address

In immediate mode the address is simply an immediate value in the instruction:

lw $t0, 0 # almost always a bad idea

In base + register mode the address is the sum of an immediate and the value in a
register:

lw $t0, 100($s3) # address is $s3 + 100

There are also various label modes:

lw $t0, absval # absval is a label

lw $t0, absval + 100
lw $t0, absval + 100($s3)

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Unconditional Branch Instructions MIPS Assembly 11

MIPS unconditional branch instructions:

j Label # PC = Label
b Label # PC = Label
jr $ra # PC = $ra

These are useful for building loops and conditional control structures.

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Conditional Branch Instructions MIPS Assembly 12

Decision making instructions

- alter the control flow,
- i.e., change the "next" instruction to be executed

MIPS conditional branch instructions:

bne $t0, $t1, <label> # branch on not-equal

# PC += 4 + Label if
# $t0 != $t1
beq $t0, $t1, <label> # branch on equal

Labels are strings of alphanumeric characters, underscores and periods, not

beginning with a digit. They are declared by placing them at the beginning
of a line, followed by a colon character.

if ( i == j ) bne $s0, $s1, Miss

h = i + j; add $s3, $s0, $s1
Miss: ....

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Conditional Control Structure MIPS Assembly 13

if ( i < j ) # $s3 == i, $s4 == j

goto A; slt $t1, $s3, $s4
else beq $zero, $t1, B
goto B;
A: # code...
b C
B: # code...
C:

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for Loop Example MIPS Assembly 14

int Sum = 0;
for (int i = 1; i <= N; ++i) {
Sum = Sum + i;
}

# $s0 == Sum, $s1 == N, $t0 == i

move $s0, $zero # register assignment
lw $s1, N # assume global symbol
li $t0, 1 # literal assignment
loop: beq $t0, $s1, done # loop test
add $s0, $s0, $t0 # Sum = Sum + i
addi $t0, $t0, 1 # ++i
b loop # restart loop
done:

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Policy of Use Conventions MIPS Assembly 15

MIPS programmers are expected to conform to the following conventions when using the
29 available 32-bit registers:

Name Register number Usage

$zero 0 the constant value 0
$v0-$v1 2-3 values for results and expression evaluation
$a0-$a3 4-7 arguments
$t0-$t7 8-15 temporaries
$s0-$s7 16-23 saved
$t8-$t9 24-25 more temporaries
$gp 28 global pointer
$sp 29 stack pointer
$fp 30 frame pointer
$ra 31 return address

Register 1 ($at) is reserved for the assembler, 26-27 ($k0, $k1) for operating system.

Registers 28-31 ($gp, $sp, $fp, $ra) are reserved for special uses, not user variables.

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Pseudo-Instructions MIPS Assembly 16

You may have noticed something is odd about a number of the MIPS instructions that
have been covered so far. For example:

li $t0, 0xFFFFFFFF

Now, logically there's nothing wrong with wanting to place a 32-bit value into one of the
registers.

But there's certainly no way the instruction above could be translated into a 32-bit
machine instruction, since the immediate value alone would require 32 bits.

This is an example of a pseudo-instruction. A MIPS assembler, or SPIM, may be

designed to support such extensions that make it easier to write complex programs.

In effect, the assembler supports an extended MIPS architecture that is more sophisticated
than the actual MIPS architecture of the underlying hardware.

Of course, the assembler must be able to translate every pseudo-instruction into a

sequence of valid MIPS assembly instructions.

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Data MIPS Assembly 17

Basic fact: at the machine language level there are no explicit data types, only
contents of memory locations. The concept of type is present only
implicitly in how data is used.

declaration: reserving space in memory, or deciding that a certain data item will reside
in a certain register.

Directives are used to reserve or initialize memory:

.data # mark beginning of a data segment

.asciiz "a string" # declare and initialize a string
.byte 13, 14, -3 # store values in successive bytes
.space 16 # alloc 16 bytes of space
.word 13, 14, -3 # store values in successive words

A complete listing of MIPS/MARS directives can be found in the MARS help feature.

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Arrays MIPS Assembly 18

First step is to reserve sufficient space for the array.

Array elements are accessed via their addresses in memory, which is convenient if you’ve
given the .space directive a suitable label.
.data
list: .word 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29
size: .word 10
. . .
la $t1, list # get array address
li $t2, 0 # set loop counter
print_loop:
beq $t2, $t3, print_loop_end # check for array end

lw $a0, ($t1) # print value at the array pointer

li $v0, 1
syscall

addi $t2, $t2, 1 # advance loop counter

addi $t1, $t1, 4 # advance array pointer
j print_loop # repeat the loop
print_loop_end:

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Array Example MIPS Assembly 19

This is part of the palindrome example from the course website:

.data
string_space: .space 1024
...
# prior to the loop, $t1 is set to the address of the first
# char in string_space, and $t2 is set to the last one
test_loop:
bge $t1, $t2, is_palin # if lower pointer >= upper
# pointer, yes

lb $t3, ($t1) # grab the char at lower ptr

lb $t4, ($t2) # grab the char at upper ptr
bne $t3, $t4, not_palin # if different, it's not

addu $t1, $t1, 1 # advance lower ptr

subu $t2, $t2, 1 # advance upper ptr
j test_loop # repeat the loop
...

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Procedure Support MIPS Assembly 20

From previous study of high-level languages, we know the basic issues:

- declaration: header, body, local variables
- call and return
- parameters of various types, with or without type checking, and a return value
- nesting and recursion

At the machine language level, there is generally little if any explicit support for
procedures. This is especially true for RISC architectures.

There are, however, many conventions at the assembly language level.

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Procedure Call and Return MIPS Assembly 21

Calling a procedure requires transferring execution to a different part of the code… in

other words, a branch or jump operation:

jal <address> # $ra = PC + 4

# PC = <address>

MIPS reserves register $31, aka $ra, to store the return address.

The called procedure must place the return value (if any) somewhere from which the
caller can retrieve it. The convention is that registers $v0 and $v1 can be used to hold
the return value. We will discuss what to do if the return value exceeds 4 bytes later…

Returning from the procedure requires transferring execution to the return address the
jal instruction placed in $ra:

jr $ra # PC = $ra

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Passing Parameters MIPS Assembly 22

In most cases, passing parameters is straightforward, following the MIPS convention:

$a0 # 1st parameter

$a1 # 2nd parameter
$a2 # 3rd parameter
$a3 # 4th parameter

The called procedure can then access the parameters by following the same convention.

What if a parameter needs to be passed by reference? Simply place the address of the
relevant data object in the appropriate register, and design the called procedure to treat
that register value accordingly.

What if a parameter is smaller than a word? Clever register manipulation in the callee.

What if there are more than four parameters? We'll discuss that later…

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Procedure Example 1 MIPS Assembly 23

Let's implement a MIPS procedure to get a single integer input value from the user and
return it:
get_integer:
# Prompt the user to enter an integer value. Read and return
# it. It takes no parameters.

li $v0, 4 # system call code for printing a

# string = 4
la $a0, prompt # address of string is argument 0 to
# print_string
syscall # call operating system to perform
# print operation

li $v0, 5 # get ready to read in integers

syscall # system waits for input, puts the
# value in $v0

jr $ra

Since this doesn't use any registers that it needs to save, there's no involvement with the
run-time stack.

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Procedure Call Example 1 MIPS Assembly 24

Since the procedure does not take any parameters, the call is simple. The return value
will, by convention, have been placed in $v0.

. . .
.data # Data declaration section
prompt: .asciiz "Enter an integer value\n"

.text

main: # Start of code section

jal get_integer # Call procedure
move $s0, $v0 # Put returned value in "save" reg
. . .

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Procedure Example 2 MIPS Assembly 25

Let's design a procedure to take some integer parameters and compute a value from them
and return that value. Say the expression to be computed is:

(a + b) – (c + d)

Then the caller needs to pass four arguments to the procedure; the default argument
registers are sufficient for this.

The procedure only returns a single one-word value, so the default register is enough.

The procedure will to use at least two registers to store temporary values while computing
the expression, and a third register to hold the final result.

The procedure will use $t0 and $t1 for the temporaries, and $s0 for the result.

(This could be done with fewer registers, but it's more illustrative this way.)

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Procedure Example 2 MIPS Assembly 26

This one's a little more interesting:

proc_example:
addi $sp, $sp, -4 # adjust stack pointer to make
# room for 1 item
sw $s0, 0($sp) # save the value that was in
# $s0 when the call occurred

add $t0, $a0, $a1 # $t0 = g + h

add $t1, $a2, $a3 # $t1 = i + j
sub $s0, $t0, $t1 # $s0 = (g + h) - (i + j)

move $v0, $s0 # put return value into $v0

lw $s0, 0($sp) # restore value of $s0

addi $sp, $sp, 4 # restore the stack pointer

jr $ra # jump back to the return

# address

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Procedure Call Example 2 MIPS Assembly 27

This time we must place the parameters (presumably obtained by calling the procedure
get_integer), into the default argument registers.

. . .
move $a0, $s0 # position the parameters
move $a1, $s1
move $a2, $s2
move $a3, $s3
jal proc_example # make the call

move $a0, $v0 # return value will be in $v0

li $v0, 1 # system call code for print_int
syscall # print it
. . .

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MIPS Memory Organization MIPS Assembly 28

In addition to memory for static data and the program text (machine code), MIPS provides
space for the run-time stack (data local to procedures, etc.) and for dynamically-allocated
data:
Stack

$sp # last word alloc on stack

Dynamic data
Static data $gp # ptr into global data

Text $pc # ptr to next instruction

Reserved

Dynamic data is accessed via pointers held by the program being executed, with addresses
returned by the memory allocator in the underlying operating system.

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The System Stack MIPS Assembly 29

MIPS provides a special register, $sp, which holds the address of the most recently
allocated word on a stack that user programs can employ to hold various values:

Note that the run-time stack is "upside-down". That is, $sp, decreases when a value is
added to the stack and increases when a value is removed.

So, you decrement the stack pointer by 4 when pushing a new value onto the stack and
increment it by 4 when popping a value off of the stack.

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Using the System Stack MIPS Assembly 30

MIPS programs use the runtime stack to hold:

- "extra" parameters to be passed to a called procedure

- register values that need to be preserved during the execution of a called procedure
and restored after the return
- saved procedure return address, if necessary
- local arrays and structures, if any

activation record
or stack frame
for called
procedure

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System Stack Conventions MIPS Assembly 31

By convention, the caller will use:

- registers $s0 - $s7 for values it expects to be preserved across any procedure calls
it makes
- registers $t0 - $t9 for values it does not expect to be preserved

It is the responsibility of the called procedure to make sure that if it uses any of the
registers $s0 - $s7 it backs them up on the system stack first, and restores them before
returning.

Obviously, the called procedure also takes responsibility to:

- allocate any needed space on the stack for local data
- place the return value onto the stack

In some situations, it is useful for the caller to also maintain the value that $sp held when
the call was made, called the frame pointer. The register $fp would be used for this
purpose.

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