created: 07/27/01; small changes: 10/18/02
This chapter discusses two topics of great interest in computer science: What machine instructions are needed in a processor, and How to build programs that work. The SPIM instructions you have looked at so far are more than enough for a processor. The structured programming approach is used to build reliable programs.
Much of the chapter is about the following question, which, oddly, is usually ignored in introductory courses.