MARIE Simulator Help - Version 1.2

Getting Started

The MARIE machine environment simulates the behavior 
of a computer with a one-memory-address instruction 
set architecture. The MARIE simulator environment 
runs programs that you write using the MARIE single-
address assembly language.

To write a MARIE program from scratch within the 
simulator environment, you can use the File | Edit 
option to invoke a simple editor.  You may also use 
any plain text editor for this purpose, making sure 
that the file that you save ends with the extension 
".mas" which is case-sensitive.  You can assemble 
your file using a menu option selectable within the 
editor itself.

Running a Program

Before you can run your program in the simulator, 
you must first assemble it (using the editor's 
assembly option) then load it using the 
File | Load option.  If you've made changes to an 
assembed file, you must reload it using 
File | Reload or File | Load before your changes 
will take effect in the simulator.

The MARIE simulator supports several animation modes. 
You can execute one instruction at a time by selecting 
Run | Set Step Mode | On, or you may prefer to have 
the computer run your program without your inter-
vention. By default, the MARIE simulator waits 10 
milliseconds (ms) between each instruction execution.  
(10 ms is the minimum wait between instruction cycles.  
You cannot set it any lower than 10ms.)  You may set 
the execution delay as high as 3000 ms using 
Run | Set Delay. 

Output

The MARIE simulator defaults output to linefeed-ter-
minated ASCII. You can reset these defaults using 
combo boxes on the output window.  So if you'd rather 
have 65 + 1 = 66, not B, you'll want to reset the 
mode of the output to decimal.

Breakpoint Options

The MARIE simulator supports breakpoint processing 
through the use of checkboxes associated with each 
program instruction. The breakpoint checkboxes are 
displayed with the program instructions in the monitor
window of the simulator.  You can enter or remove a 
checkmark in any of the boxes through a mouse click.
The checkmarks tell the simulator to pause at the 
instruction that is checked when you select the  
Breakpoints | Run to Breakpoint menu option.  
Note:  If you have set a breakpoint at a "Halt" 
instruction, the "Run to Breakpoint" option will 
first execute a "Restart" then proceed to run your 
program from the beginning.

To reset (or clear) all breakpoints from the monitor, 
select the Breakpoints | Reset Breakpoints menu option.

Miscellany

The MARIE simulator provides additional menu options 
for:

Restarting the Simulator: Run | Restart 
          resets the program counter to the start 
          of the program.  This is not to be confused 
          with...

Resetting the Simulator:  Run | Reset Simulator
          which clears everything from the system, 
          just like pressing the [Reset] button on a 
          personal computer.  Because this option wipes 
          out everything, you will be asked for 
          confirmation before the simulator is reset.

Stopping a Program:  The [Stop]button will be enabled 
          when you are running a program from the 
          Run | Run or Breakpoints | Run to Breakpoint 
          selections, the button will be enabled.  You 
          can use this button to stop program execution.

Symbol Table Display:  The [Symbol Map] button shows 
          the symbol table (if one exists) for the 
          currently-loaded program.

Refer to your text for more details regarding the 
instruction set architecture and fetch-execute 
processing of this machine.
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