What are Registers?
Registers are small, ultra-fast storage locations built directly into the CPU. Think of them as the CPU's personal workspace - much faster than RAM but very limited in number. MIPS architecture provides 32 general-purpose registers, each capable of storing 32 bits (4 bytes) of data. Understanding registers is fundamental to writing efficient assembly code.
Key Points:
- 32 general-purpose registers in MIPS
- Each register holds 32 bits (4 bytes)
- Registers are 100x faster than RAM
- Limited quantity requires careful management
Example Code
# MIPS has 32 registers numbered 0-31
# Each register is 32 bits wide
# Registers are the fastest storage available
# Format: $register_name or $number
$0 # Always zero (read-only)
$1 # Reserved for assembler
$2-$3 # Return values
$4-$7 # Function argumentsTry It Yourself
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