| Popular processor designs can be broadly divided into two categories: Complex Instruction
Set Computers (CISC) and Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC). The dominant
processor in the PC market, Pentium, belongs to the CISC category. However, the recent
trend is to use the RISC designs. Even Intel has moved from CISC to RISC design for
their 64-bit processor. The main objective of this book is to provide a guide to the architecture
and assembly language of the popular RISC processors. In all, we cover five RISC
designs in a comprehensive manner.
To explore RISC assembly language, we selected the MIPS processor, which is pedagogically
appealing as it closely adheres to the RISC principles. Furthermore, the availability
of the SPIM simulator allows us to use a PC to learn the MIPS assembly language.
This book is intended for computer professionals and university students. Anyone who is
interested in learning about RISC processors will benefit from this book, which has been
structured so that it can be used for self-study. The reader is assumed to have had some
experience in a structured, high-level language such as C. However, the book does not
assume extensive knowledge of any high-level language—only the basics are needed.
Assembly language programming is part of several undergraduate curricula in computer
science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering departments. This book
can be used as a companion text in those courses that teach assembly language. |
