Instructions: Language of the

Computer
Xin Zeng, Associate Professor Dept.
of Information and Communication
Tongji University

Email: [email protected]
2.1 Computer Hierarchy Levels

 Language understood by
the computer’s hardware:
machine language(0101..)
 Usually discussed in terms
of assembly language

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Some concepts

 Instruction set: collection of instructions that a processor can

execute
 A compiler translates a high level language, which is architecture
independent, into assembly language, which is architecture
dependent.
 An assembler translates assembly language programs into
executable binary codes.
.

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MIPS assembly language

 MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC)

instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by MIPS
Technologies
 The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later
versions were 64-bit
 Used areas: embedded system, supercomputer

Portable Game Device

with Two MIPS Chips

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2.2 Operations of the computer
hardware

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2.3 Operands of the computer
hardware
 Operands must be from a limited number
of Registers;
 Register: a special location built directly
in hardware, actually inside of the CPU.
 With a size of 32 bits = length of a word
 Byte = 8 bits

 MIPS has 32 registers

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2.3 Operands of the computer
hardware
 Memory operands
 Only a small amount of data is kept in
registers
 Large data structures (like array) are kept in
the memory
 Data transfer function: A command that
moves data between memory and
register

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2.3 Operands of the computer
hardware
 To access a word in memory, the
instruction must supply the memory
address
 Address: a value used to denote the
location of a specific data elements in a
memory array.
Load a word

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 8 is a offset
 $s3 is a base register

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 Alignment restriction: in MIPS, words
must start at addresses that are
multiples of 4.

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Big-Endian and Little-Endian Formats
 In a byte-addressable machine, two choices for the order in which
the bytes are stored in memory: most significant byte at lowest
address, referred to as big-endian, or least significant byte stored at
lowest address, referred to as little-endian

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 The "most significant" byte is
the one for the largest powers
of two: 231, ..., 224. The "least
significant" byte is the one for
the smallest powers of two:
27, ..., 20.
 32-bit pattern 0x12345678 is
at address 0x00400000. The
most significant byte is 0x12;
the least significant is 0x78.

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Store a word

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Constant or Immediate operands

 Add instruction with only one source

operand is called add immediate or addi.

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Constant or Immediate operands

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2.4 Representing instruction in
the computer
 Decimal number: base 10 number
 Binary number: base 2 number
 Hexadecimal number: base 16 number

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Signed and Unsigned
Numbers
Unsigned numbers

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Signed and Unsigned
Numbers
Signed numbers?
where to put the sign?
example:
0001 = 1ten ?
1001 = -1ten ?

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Signed and Unsigned
Numbers
Let's answer another question:

How to use an adder to subtract ?

Ignore overflow.

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Signed and Unsigned
Numbers
Signed numbers:

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Signed and Unsigned
Numbers

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Signed and Unsigned
Numbers

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Signed and Unsigned
Numbers

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Signed and Unsigned
Numbers

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2.4 Representing instruction in
the computer

In MIPS assembly language

 Register $s0 - $s7 = Register 16 – 23
 Register $t0 - $t7 = Register 8 – 15

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 Field: each of these segment
 0 (first segment)and 32 (last segment) (two
fields in combination) tell the computer
perform addition
 17 = $s1, 18 = $s2, 8 = $t0
 The fifth field is unused
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 MIPS instruction is 32 bit long
 Equal to the length of word

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 R-type or R-format

What is the range for memory address

offset when loading words ? assuming
only 5 bits available.
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 R-type = register type
 I-type (immediate) or I-format: used for
data transfer

 what is the range now? note there is a

sign.

How to differentiate R or I format?

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Ref: https://blog.csdn.net/ben_chong/article/details/51794093
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 In binary:

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2.5 Logic operations

 sll: shift left logical, srl: shift right logical;

 Shift: move all the bits in a word to left or right, filling
the emptied bits with 0s.
 left shift by 4: 1000 1001 => 1001 0000
 Shifting left by i bits gives the same result as
multiplying by 2^i
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 the original value was in register $s0 and the result
should go in register $t2, instruction:

 Machine language version

 REMEMBER:
Shamt = 4: stand for the shift
amount
 0 in both op and funct fileds
 rd = $t2
 rt = $s0
 rs = 0 is unused
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 AND: bit-by-bit operation that leaves 1 in the
result if both bits of the operands are 1.

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or: bit-by-bit operation that leaves 1 in the
result if either operand is 1.
=

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 NOT: a logic bit-by-bit operation with one
operand that inverts the bits, i.e., it replace
every 1 with 0, and every 0 with 1;
 NOR: A logic bit-by-bit operation with two
operands that calculates the NOT of the OR of
the two operands. ($t3 = 0)

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Review

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2.6 Instruction for making
decisions

 Go to statement label L1 if the value in register

1 equals the value in register 2;

 Go to statement label L1 if the value in register

1 does not equal the value in register 2;
 Two instructions are called conditional
branches

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 flow chart:

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Loops

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More conditional operations

 Register $t0 is set to 1 if the value in $s3

is less than the value in $s4

 $t0 =1 if the value in $2 is less than 10

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Unconditional jump instructions
 j
 Unconditionally jumps to the instruction at the
specified address
 j exit # jump to the statement labeled by exit
 jr
 Jumps to the address contained in the specified
register
 jr $ra # goto address $ra

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