Description
1 Purpose
In this Project, we’ll be using functions for the first time1
. You will implement
several different functions, which can be called by the testcases; some of those
functions will have to call other functions.
Note: In this project you will not be writing a studentMain() function; instead, you will implement other functions, which the testcases may call.
1.1 Required Filenames to Turn in
Name your assembly language file asm3.s.
1.2 Allowable Instructions
When writing MIPS assembly, the only instructions that you are allowed to use
(so far) are:
• add, addi, sub, addu, addiu
• and, andi, or, ori, xor, xori, nor
• beq, bne, j
• jal, jr
• slt, slti
• sll, sra, srl
• lw, lh, lb, sw, sh, sb
• la
• syscall
• mult, div, mfhi, mflo
While MIPS has many other useful instructions (and the assembler recognizes many pseudo-instructions), do not use them! We want you to learn the
fundamentals of how assembly language works – you can use fancy tricks after
this class is over.
1
In truth, you’ve been defining studentMain() since Asm 1 – but this is the first time that
you understand what you’re doing.
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2 Task Overview
Your file must declare a set of functions, as detailed below. In this project, you
won’t have any global variables provided by the testcase; instead, everything
that you need to know will be provided through parameters.
(In the descriptions below, I’ve described some of the functions by giving you
C code; I’ve described others using words. Of course, you’ll be writing MIPS
assembly for all of them!)
2.1 Properly Saving Registers
The testcase includes lots of features which are designed to verify that you are
saving registers properly.
First of all, it initializes all of the sX registers – and $fp as well – to various
32-bit values. At the end of the testcase, we’ll print out these values (along with
a word we passed onto the stack); if you have saved those registers properly –
and also restored $sp to the proper location – then your output will match the
expected output.
On the other side of things you must know that if you decide to use tX
registers in your code (and sometimes, that’s a great strategy), then you must
not assume that they are unchanged by a function call.
To test that, every function in the testcases which you might call will intentionally corrupt every tX register, aX register, and vX register. (Many will
return a value in v0; in that case, they will only corrupt v1.)
Thus, if your code depends on any value that you’ve stored in a tX register
– and you don’t save it properly – then your program will operate improperly.
2.2 Matching the Output
You must match the expected output exactly, byte for byte. Every task ends
with a blank line (if it does anything at all); do not print the blank line if you
do not perform the task. (Thus, if a testcase asks you to perform no tasks, your
code will print nothing at all.)
To find exactly the correct spelling, spacing, and other details, always look
at the .out file for each example testcase I’ve provided. Any example (or
stated requirement) in this spec is approximate; if it doesn’t match
the .out file, then trust the .out file.
(Of course, if there are any cases in the spec which are not covered by any
testcase that I’ve provided, then use the spec as the authoritative source.)
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Task 1: strlen(char *ptr)
Implement a function which takes a single parameter: a pointer to a string.
Count the number of characters in the string (that is, read up to the null terminator). Return the count.
NOTE: Since you are given a pointer to the string, you must not attempt
to load its address from a label; you have no idea what the label might be.
You’ve been given an address – use it!
Task 2: int gcf(int a, int b)
This function calculates the GCF (Greatest Common Factor) between two numbers. Your implementation must be recursive.
Implement the following code. (See below for information about how to do
multiply and divide in MIPS.)
int gcf(int a, int b)
{
if (a < b) swap(a,b); if (b == 1) return 1; if (a % b == 0) return b; else return gcf(b, a % b); } (You will notice that the function above assumes that both inputs are positive numbers; you are not required to enforce this assumption in any way.) Multiply/Divide, and Move From Hi/Lo MIPS provides divide and multiply instructions. However, both of them need more than one register to hold the answer: multiply produces a 64-bit result, and divide will simultaneously calculate both the quotient and the remainder. Thus, these two instructions have two destination registers. Surprisingly, the way MIPS chose to do this was to have two special registers for this purpose, $hi,$lo. These cannot be accessed directly, but you can use the instructions mfhi (“move from hi”) and mflo to copy them into other registers. For instance, if you want to divide $s0 by $t3, and you want to put the quotient into $s4 and the remainder into $s5, you would do: div $s0, $t3 # lo = (s0 / t3) # hi = (s0 % t3) 3 CS 252 mflo $s4 # s4 = lo = (s0 / t3) mfhi $s5 # s5 = hi = (s0 % t3) (Note that you aren’t required to read both HI and LO; you are allowed to read only one of them, if that’s what you need.) Task 3: bottles(int count, char *thing) Implement the following function: void bottles(int count, char *thing) { for (int i=count; i>0; i–)
{
printf(“%d bottles of %s on the wall, %d bottles of %s!\n”,
i,thing, i,thing);
printf(“Take one down, pass it around, %d bottles of %s on the wall.\n”,
i-1,thing);
printf(“\n”);
}
printf(“No more bottles of %s on the wall!\n”, thing);
printf(“\n”);
}
NOTE 1: Remember that the format specifier %d prints out an integer, and
%s prints out a string.
NOTE 2: You have been given the address of a string. You should not bother
with reading any of its characters, since you don’t care what they contain.
Instead, simply print the string!
Task 4: int longestSorted(int *array, int len)
The first parameter is a pointer to an array of integers; the second is the length
of the array. Scan through the array, and figure out the length of the longest
sorted run – that is, the longest sequence of integers from the array which are
sorted. Return the number that you find.
(Note that, unlike a previous assembly project, you should not check for
both ascending and descending sequences – only check for ascending ones.)
If the array is empty, return 0. If it is not empty, then the smallest possible
value that you might return is 1. Of course, at all times, the maximum value
that you might return is the length of the array.
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Task 5: int rotate(int count, int a, int b, int
c, int d, int e, int f)
int rotate(int count,
int a, int b, int c, int d, int e, int f)
{
int retval = 0;
for (int i=0; i<count; i++)
{
retval += util(a,b,c,d,e,f);
int tmp = a;
a = b;
b = c;
c = d;
d = e;
e = f;
f = tmp;
}
return retval;
}
NOTE: util() is a function that will be provided by the testcase. Each testcase
will provide a different implementation.
3 Running Your Code
You should always run your code using the grading script before you turn it in.
However, while you are writing (or debugging) your code, it often handy to run
the code yourself.
3.1 Running With Mars (GUI)
To launch the Mars application (as a GUI), open the JAR file that you downloaded from the Mars website. You may be able to just double-click it in your
operating system; if not, then you can run it by typing the following command:
java -jar
This will open a GUI, where you can edit and then run your code. Put your
code, plus one2
testcase, in some directory. Open your code in the Mars editor;
2 Why can’t you put multiple testcases in the directory at the same time? As far as I can
5 CS 252 Assembly Project 3
you can edit it there. When it’s ready to run, assemble it (F3), run it (F5), or
step through it one instruction at a time (F7). You can even step backwards
in time (F8)!
3.1.1 Running the Mars GUI the First Time
The first time that you run the Mars GUI, you will need to go into the Settings
menu, and set two options:
• Assemble all files in directory – so your code will find, and link
with, the testcase
• Initialize Program Counter to ’main’ if defined – so that the program will begin with main() (in the testcase) instead of the first line of
code in your file.
3.2 Running Mars at the Command Line
You can also run Mars without a GUI. This will only print out the things that
you explicitly print inside your program (and errors, of course).3 However, it’s
an easy way to test simple fixes. (And of course, it’s how the grading script
works.) Perhaps the nicest part of it is that (unlike the GUI, as far as I can
tell), you can tell Mars exactly what files you want to run – so multiple testcases
in the directory is OK.
To run Mars at the command line, type the following command:
java -jar sm .s .s
4 A Note About Grading
Your code will be tested automatically. Therefore, your code must:
• Use exactly the filenames that we specify (remember that names are case
sensitive).
• Not use any other files (unless allowed by the project spec) – since our
grading script won’t know to use them.
• Follow the spec precisely (don’t change any names, or edit the files I give
you, unless the spec says to do so).
tell (though I’m just learning Mars myself), the Mars GUI only runs in two modes: either (a)
it runs only one file, or (b) it runs all of the files in the same directory. If you put multiple
testcases in the directory, it will get duplicate-symbol errors.
3 Mars has lots of additional options that allow you to dump more information, but I
haven’t investigated them. If you find something useful, be sure to share it with the class!
6 CS 252 Assembly Project 3
• (In projects that require output) match the required output exactly! Any
extra spaces, blank lines misspelled words, etc. will cause the testcase to
fail.
To make it easy to check, I have provided the grading script. I strongly
recommend that you download the grading script and all of the testcases, and
use them to test your code from the beginning. You want to detect any problems
early on!
4.1 mips checker.pl
In addition to downloading grade asm3, you should also download mips checker.pl,
and put it in the same directory. The grading script will call the checker script.
4.2 Testcases
For assembly language programs, the testcases will be named test *.s . For
C programs, the testcases will be named test *.c . For Java programs, the
testcases will be named Test *.java . (You will only have testcases for the
languages that you have to actually write for each project, of course.)
Each testcase has a matching output file, which ends in .out; our grading
script needs to have both files available in order to test your code.
For many projects, we will have “secret testcases,” which are additional
testcases that we do not publish until after the solutions have been posted.
These may cover corner cases not covered by the basic testcase, or may simply
provide additional testing. You are encouraged to write testcases of your
own, in order to better test your code.
4.3 Automatic Testing
We have provided a testing script (in the same directory), named grade asm3,
along with a helper script, mips checker.pl. Place both scripts, all of the
testcase files (including their .out files), and your program files in the same
directory. (I recommend that you do this on Lectura, or a similar department
machine. It might also work on your Mac or Linux box, but no promises!)
4.4 Writing Your Own Testcases
The grading script will grade your code based on the testcases it finds in the
current directory. Start with the testcases I provide – however, I encourage you
to write your own as well. If you write your own, simply name your testcases
using the same pattern as mine, and the grading script will pick them up.
While you normally cannot share code with friends and classmates, testcases are the exception. We encourage you to share you testcases – ideally
by posting them on Piazza. Sometimes, I may even pick your testcase up to be
part of the official set, when I do the grading!
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5 Turning in Your Solution
From Lectura, navigate to the folder that contains the folder asm3. Then
run the command: turnin cs252f21-asm3 asm3. Please turn in only your
program; do not turn in any testcases.
You must ensure that your folder is named asm3 and it contains files that
exactly match filenames described above in this spec.
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