LC3Program

How to run

1. Download & install the LC3 Simulator.
2. Open the binary file in LCEdit and convert to base 2. This will create an object file.
3. Load the object file in Simulate and run the program.

What it does

• This program calculates 2ⁿ, where the user enters n.
• n can be any value from 01 to 53.
• It resets the state of the registers and stack each time it runs.

History

• I was originally given this assignment in 2010, while studying Computer Systems 1 at The University of Auckland.

• This assignment was memorable for how I misunderstood the requirements and wrote it in binary. I ended up learning the hard way to pay attention in class. If you've learnt Assembly you'll find most people write code in a human readable format, for example:

  ADD R2, R3, R4 ;R2 <- R3 + R4

  Where as I would have written:

  0001 010 011 000 100 ;R2 <- R3 + R4

• I had all of the assignment requirements completed about 6 hours before it was due. This included having it work for n>15, for extra credit. But I talked to the lecturer in the hallway about adding new features, and he said they were required. It turns out they weren't, but I still ended up submitting a broken piece of code. I ended up learning the hard way I needed to read assignments very carefully.

• I learnt a lot from this project. Because of my backwards approach I was forced to learn a lot more about how Assembly works, and I really enjoy working on low-level code now. I also learnt about other things they don't teach in unversity - like the value of source control and understanding requirements.