Although there are a few pieces of documentation for the P18240 processor, an overarching guide of its usage has yet to be created. By creating a comprehensive manual of the P18240, we hope to reduce confusion amongst 18-240 students regarding its operation and provide a single guidebook for future instances of the course.
This manual will include: - A brief introduction to the processor - An overview of the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) - The P18240 Instruction Set - A guide to the subroutine discipline (e.g. stack maintenance, caller-callee register saving conventions) - Discussions on the P18240's implementation (e.g. Bootup behavior, Memory maps, I/O Mechanisms) - An introduction to the assembler and simulator - A tutorial on the simulator's usage - A description of the P18240 processor's architecture, including appropriate diagrams for both its datapath and controlpath. - The SystemVerilog files and instructions
As a result of this work, students enrolled in 18-240 will no longer have to scrounge through multiple documents in order to learn about using the processor. This will undoubtedly save time for students and TAs alike.
