Operations of Computer Hardware

Operations of Computer Hardware

• Each MIPS arithmetic instruction performs only one operation and must always have precisely three variables. For example: add a, b, c.

• Suppose we want to place the sum of four variables b, c, d and e into variable a; we have to perform the following sequence of instructions:

add a, b, c  // Places the sum of b and c in a

add a, a, d  // Places the sum of b, c, and d in a

add a, a, e  // Places the sum of b, c, d, and e in a

Thus, it takes three instructions to sum the four variables.

Types of Operations

• Generally type of operations supported by MIPS instruction set architecture can be categorized as follows:

■ Arithmetic

■ Data transfer

■ Logical

■ Conditional branch

■ Unconditional jump.

Review Questions

1. List the type of operations supported by MIPS instruction set architecture.

2. Classify the instructions based on the operations they perform and give one example to each category.