Yes. The data is copied to a new location, but the old location is not changed. However, since the stack pointer is moved, "logically" the data is no longer on the stack.
The stack is often used to hold temporary values when most registers are already in use. An example of this is how a compiler translates an arithmetic expression into machine codes that uses a stack.
Say that
the arithmetic expression is:
ab - 12a + 18b - 7
.
Say that only
$t0
and
$t1
are available.
Perhaps only two registers are available because the
compiler has already output code that uses all the others.
Before SPIM starts running a program it
initializes the stack pointer
$sp
appropriately.
On a computer with a full operating system,
the stack pointer is initialized by
the operating system before control is
passed to a user program.
Here is the start of the program:
Fill in the blanks.