The majority of the main instructions were introduced in MIPS I and II. MIPS III introduced 64-bit integers and addresses, and MIPS IV and V improved floating-point operations and added a new set to boost the overall efficacy. Every instruction there has the same length—32 bits (4 bytes), and any instruction starts with an opcode that takes 6 bits. The three major instruction formats supported are R, I, and J:
|
Instruction category |
Syntax |
Description |
|
R-type |
Specifies three registers: an optional shift amount field (for shift and rotate instructions), and an optional function field (for control codes to differentiate between instructions sharing the same opcode). |
These instructions are used when all the data values used are located in registers. |
|
I-type |
Specifies two registers and an immediate value. |
This group is used when the instruction operates with a register and an immediate value, for example, the ones that involve memory operations... |