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I remember CS 61C at Berkeley used to use MIPS to teach assembly language programming and a bit about computer architecture, using the original MIPS version of
by schoen 6y ago
I remember CS 61C at Berkeley used to use MIPS to teach assembly language programming and a bit about computer architecture, using the original MIPS version of Patterson and Hennessy's Computer Organization and Design. Now that book is available in both MIPS and RISC-V versions, with, I've assumed, much more effort going into the RISC-V version...
I do think the simplicity of MIPS was a big plus there, including simplicity of simulating it (http://spimsimulator.sourceforge.net/ http://spimsimulator.sourceforge.net/). I suppose a lot of students may appreciate being taught on something that is or is about to be very widely used, even if it's more complicated in various ways -- and the fact that one of the textbook authors was a main RISC-V designer makes me assume that educational aspects are not at all neglected in the RISC-V world.
- saagarjha 6y agoNot entirely related, but I found MARS (http://courses.missouristate.edu/KenVollmar/MARS/ http://courses.missouristate.edu/KenVollmar/MARS/) to be much nicer to use than SPIM. More on topic, though, RISC-V seems to really be designed in a way that makes it easy to teach. This is partially why I have doubts that it can be made very performant, but the focus of a prettier design over a more practical one is probably going to help it be more accessible to students.