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Answer:

It is a basic assembly instruction that corresponds to a 32-bit machine instruction.


Exception Handler Services

Here are the services of the SPIM exception handler. The following pages explain how to use them. The print services write characters to the simulated monitor of SPIM. The read services read characters from the keyboard and (for numeric read services) convert character strings into the appropriate type.

ServiceCode in $v0ArgumentsReturned Value
print integer1 $a0 == integer  
print float 2 $f12 == float  
print double 3 ($f12, $f13) == double  
print string 4 $a0 == address of string  
read integer5   $v0 == integer
read float 6   $f0 == float
read double 7   ($f0, $f1) == double
read string 8 $a0 == buffer address
$a1 == buffer length
 
allocate memory 9 $a0 == number of bytes$v0 == address
exit 10    

Here is an example of how to use a service. Load register $v0 with the code for the exit service and then use the syscall instruction. The exit service stops the program. (Until now we have been single stepping the program or crashing into the bytes beyond the end of the program).

li      $v0,10      # code 10 == exit
syscall             # Return control to the
                    # operating system.  

QUESTION 3:

What (do you think) the exit service does for a program running on a computer with a real operating system?