Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

Course: Computer Architecture Lab (CO2008)

Assignment
CALCULATOR

Ho Chi Minh City, April 2024

 Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

Contents

1 Outcomes 2

2 Introduction 2

3 Requirements 3
3.1 Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2 Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.3 Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.3.1 Addition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3.2 Subtraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3.3 Multiplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3.4 Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3.5 Factorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3.6 Exponent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3.7 Parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.4 Decimal point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.5 Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.6 Log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.7 Test cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.8 Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4 Submission 5

5 Plagiarism 6

6 Rubric for evaluation 6

6.1 Friendly interface - 1 point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.2 Application implementation - 6 points . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.3 Report - 3 points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Assignment for Computer Architecture

Page 1/7
Academic year 2023 - 2024
 Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

1 Outcomes
After finishing this assignment, students can proficiently use:

• MARS MIPS simulator.

• Arithmetic & data transfer instructions.

• Conditional branch and unconditional jump instructions.

• Procedures.

2 Introduction
A calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform
calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics [1].

Figure 1: A simple electronic calculator

The calculator idea starts from long ago where people would use items in
their possession to count. After some time, when civilization became more
and more advanced, mechanical calculators emerged and came to be one of
the fundamental tools for a person. At the time, such tools can only offer very
few functionalities, including addition and subtraction. After the invention
of the first solid-state electronic calculator in the 1960s, calculators began
to have memory storing capabilities. Therefore, complex instructions can be
calculated. Nowadays, calculators are inseparable from the modern society.
From elementary schools to university and marketplaces, these pocket-size

Assignment for Computer Architecture

Page 2/7
Academic year 2023 - 2024
 Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

devices can be found supporting people daily calculations anywhere in the

world.
A simple modern calculator should be able to solve basic arithmetic
such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and utilizing memory.
Some other frequently used functions include factorization, finding Lowest
Common Multiple (LCM), Greatest Common Divisor (GCD), square roots,
exponents, and converting bases.

3 Requirements
In this assignment, your task is to create the best calculator that you can
using MIPS assembly. The requirements are listed in the below sections.

3.1 Input
The program should be able to receive input from the user. The user
should input a string of instructions after the prompt: ”Please insert your
expression:”.
The input will be a string of expression such as: ”(10-4+9)/(9+3*2+M)”.
The length of the string should be 100 characters max.
The program should be able to detect and prompt the user if there is a
wrong character in the input string. The prompt should be: ”You inserted
an invalid character in your expression”
Valid characters include: ”0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + - * / . M ˆ ! ( )”
The user should be able to insert multiple expressions in a single running
instance of the program. For example, after getting the result of ”1+2”, the
user can input another expression ”M+1” to get the next result. This cycle
goes on until the program is terminated by the word: ”quit”.

3.2 Output
The program should output the calculated result of the expression in-
serted by the user. It should come after the prompt: ”Result:”. In case the
result is an infinite decimal number, it should display 16 numbers after the
decimal point.

3.3 Instructions
Your program must be able to handle these instructions:

Assignment for Computer Architecture

Page 3/7
Academic year 2023 - 2024
 Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

3.3.1 Addition
The addition operator is indicated by the symbol ”+”. It is a binary
operation (requires 2 operands). Example: input: ”2+3”; output: ”5”

3.3.2 Subtraction
The subtraction operator is indicated by the symbol ”-”. It can be a
binary or unary operation. In the former case, it works exactly like a normal
subtraction symbol. In the latter case, it needs a number/variable to come
right after it. In this case, it acts as a negative symbol. Example: input:
”1-5”; output: ”-4”.

3.3.3 Multiplication
The multiplication operator is indicated by the symbol ”*”. It is a binary
operation (requires 2 operands). Example: input: ”5*3”; output: ”15”

3.3.4 Division
The division operator is indicated by the symbol ”/”. It is a binary
operation (requires 2 operands). Example: input: ”3/5”; output: ”0.6”

3.3.5 Factorization
The factorization operator is indicated by the symbol ”!”. It is an unary
operation (requires 1 operand). Factorization can only be done with a non-
negative integer. Example: input: ”3!”; output: ”6”

3.3.6 Exponent
Exponent is a binary operation (requires 2 operands). It is indicated
by the symbol ”ˆ”. For simplicity, the base can be non-integer while the
exponent is an integer. Example: input: ”3ˆ5”; output: ”243”

3.3.7 Parentheses
Parentheses are indicated by the two symbols ”(” and ”)”. They help
organize and group operations together in order to perform them in a different
way. In the program, the first parenthesis must be an opening one ”(” while
the last parenthesis must be the closing version ”)”. Furthermore, they
must come in pairs and logically ordered. For example: input ”(1+))(2)” is

Assignment for Computer Architecture

Page 4/7
Academic year 2023 - 2024
 Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

considered invalid. A valid example should be: input: ”(1+3)/2”; output:

”2”.

3.4 Decimal point

The program must be able to process decimal numbers. Decimal points
(indicated by ”.”) must be used in order to represent any kind of non-integer
numbers. Example: Valid decimal numbers: ”0.9”, ”12.22345”; Invalid deci-
mal numbers: ”M.2”, ”2.M”, ”.M”, ”.2”, ”2.”, ”M.”.

3.5 Memory
The program should be able to save the result of the last calculation into
the memory. This last result can be reused in the next expression in the
place of the symbol ”M”. ”M” represents a number but only as a variable,
not the number itself. Basically, ”M” can’t be used in situations such as
”M.1”, ”1.M”. When first run, if the user uses the ”M”, it will have the
value ”0”.

3.6 Log file

Aside from printing everything to the terminal, the program needs to
write out the user input as well as the result of all the expressions in one
session into a file named ”calc log.txt”.

3.7 Test cases

Test cases will not be provided to you. You will have to use your own
physical calculator and test the program yourself.

3.8 Report
A report about your work should be made for this assignment. Images
of test runs as well as description of the functions and logic are anticipated.
Flow charts and other visualization of your ideas are also encouraged. The
report must contain basic information such as name, ID, class, and subject.

4 Submission
Students are requested to submit the MIPS program(s)/source code (.asm
files) and the Assignment report to BK E-learning system (BKEL) earlier

Assignment for Computer Architecture

Page 5/7
Academic year 2023 - 2024
 Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

than the last lab session of your class. Assignment must be done individually.
Students have to demonstrate program(s) on MARS MIPS during the
last lab session.
Students who do not show up during the demonstration time will get 0
for the assignment.
The report should not contain code. Instead, students should present the
algorithms as well as the idea in your implementation.
There will be no deadline extensions.

5 Plagiarism
Similarity less than 30% in MIPS code is allowed. In other words, you
will get 0 for assignment if your answers are similar to another student’s more
than 30%. Note that, we will use the MOSS tool developed by Stanford for
checking similarity (https://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/).

6 Rubric for evaluation

6.1 Friendly interface - 1 point
Students can design and implement an amicable user interface so that
users can use easily without any confusion (1 points).
Students can design and implement a friendly user interface; However,
some parts of the program caused confusion (0.5 points).
Student can implement the program but with little to no effort to make
the interface match the description (0.25 points).
Student can implement the program but fundamental prompts and format
are not available (0 point).

6.2 Application implementation - 6 points

Students can implement an excellent application without any errors found
(6 points).
Students can implement a good application with some minor errors, user
doesn’t need to restart the application to continue (4.0 - 5.5 points).
Students can implement the application with some errors that prevent
players from using the calculator (2.0 - 4.0 point).
Students cannot implement the application or lack too many crucial func-
tionalities (0 - 2.0 points).

Assignment for Computer Architecture

Page 6/7
Academic year 2023 - 2024
 Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

6.3 Report - 3 points

Students write such an excellent report that others can understand with-
out any difficulty (3 points).
Students write a good report but it’s quite simple or lack of some infor-
mation to clarify the implementation (1.5 - 2.5 points).
Students write a report with a lot of code embedded without any expla-
nation (0.5 - 1.0 points).
Students with no report submitted (0 point).

References
[1] Wikipedia, “Calculator.” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Calculator

Assignment for Computer Architecture

Page 7/7
Academic year 2023 - 2024