MIPS X-Ray: A plug-in to MARS simulator for datapath visualization

Author

Sales, Guilherme C R ; Araújo, Márcio R D ; Pádua, Flávio L C ; Corrêa, Fábio L., Jr.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput., Fed. Center of Technol. Educ. of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Volume

2

fYear

2010

fDate

22-24 June 2010

Abstract

This paper presents the design and development of a new plug-in to the well-known MIPS Assembler and Runtime Simulator (MARS). The MIPS processor is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC), while the MARS simulator is a lightweight interactive development environment for programming in MIPS assembly language, intended for educational-level use. The proposed plug-in, called MIPS X-Ray, provides a dynamic dataflow diagram, which allows MARS users to visualize the execution of operations internally to the MIPS architecture. By using the proposed plug-in, MARS users can better analyze the developed assembly codes, improving their understanding about the MIPS processor, as well as their debugging capabilities.

Keywords

assembly language; computer science education; data visualisation; pipeline processing; reduced instruction set computing; virtual machines; MARS simulator; MIPS assembly language; MIPS processor; MIPS x-ray; assembly codes; datapath visualization; debugging capabilities; dynamic dataflow diagram; educational level use; interactive development environment; reduced instruction set computer; Assembly; Computational modeling; Computer aided instruction; Computer architecture; Computer simulation; Mars; Programming profession; Reduced instruction set computing; Runtime; Visualization; Dynamic Dataflow Diagram; MIPS Assembler and Runtime Simulator (MARS); Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages (MIPS); Plug-in;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Education Technology and Computer (ICETC), 2010 2nd International Conference on

Conference_Location

Shanghai

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-6367-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICETC.2010.5529442

Filename

5529442