MIPS X-Ray: A plug-in to MARS simulator for datapath visualization

This paper presents the design and development of a new plug-in to the well-known MIPS Assembler and Runtime Simulator (MARS). The MIPS processor is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC), while the MARS simulator is a lightweight interactive development environment for programming in MIPS assembly language, intended for educational-level use. The proposed plug-in, called MIPS X-Ray, provides a dynamic dataflow diagram, which allows MARS users to visualize the execution of operations internally to the MIPS architecture. By using the proposed plug-in, MARS users can better analyze the developed assembly codes, improving their understanding about the MIPS processor, as well as their debugging capabilities.