3 ms·
> Breaking dords into bytes and vice-versa involves long sequences of shifts and logical operations modern MIPS has "ext" and "ins", which are probably an impr
by nbsd4lyfe 9y ago
> Breaking dords into bytes and vice-versa involves long sequences of shifts and logical operations
modern MIPS has "ext" and "ins", which are probably an improvement in that regard.
> plentiful-yet-unhelpfully-named registers
what's wrong with MIPS register names? my only comparison is x86 and that has been awful. I'm constantly looking up which registers are what.
- userbinator 9y agowhat's wrong with MIPS register names? They're not really names, just "addresses" of a different form --- and of course, 0 is not really a register. x86 register names are supposed to be mnemonic, because certain instructions are only usable with, or have shorter forms when used with, the "right" register: Accumulator, Count, Base, Data/Divide, Stack Pointer, Base Pointer, Source Index, Destination Index.
- crankybear1337 9y agoThose explanations for the x86 register mnemonics were great, thanks! To me the MIPS registers seem pretty logical too, though: $zr for zero, $sp for stack pointer, $a0-3 for arguments, $t0-7 for temporaries and $s0-7 for saved registers. Much better than the plain numbered registers on some assembly flavors.