🚀 MIPS Pipeline CPU Simulator

📖 Introduction

The MIPS Pipeline CPU Simulator is a Java-based application that emulates the MIPS pipeline architecture, a widely used RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) design. The simulator is an educational tool designed to:

• 🛠️ Debug and test MIPS code.
• 📋 Visualize pipeline stages and memory states.
• 🚀 Explore optimization techniques like forwarding and branch prediction.

👨🏻‍💻 Graphical User Interface

✨ Features

• Pipeline Visualization:
  • Stages: Fetch, Decode, Execute, Memory, Write Back.
  • Hazard Handling: Data and control hazards with forwarding and branch prediction.
• User-Friendly GUI:
  • Dynamic updates of pipeline stages.
  • 🖥️ Real-time display of registers and memory contents.
• Robust Testing:

  • JUnit tests for comprehensive verification of functionality.

  • ISA:

• Arithmetic: add, sub, addi
• Shifts: sll, srl
• Logic: and, or, xor
• Memory: lw, sw
• Control Flow: beq, bnq, jump
• Comparison: slt, slti

⚙️ Project Setup

Environment

• Backend: Java
• GUI: Java Swing
• IDE: IntelliJ IDEA

Setup Steps

1. Clone the repository.
2. Open the project in IntelliJ IDEA.
3. Compile and run the application.

📚 Pipeline Stages

The MIPS pipeline consists of five stages:

1. Fetch (IF): 🗂️ Retrieves the instruction from memory.
2. Decode (ID): 🧩 Decodes the instruction and prepares operands.
3. Execute (EX): 🔧 Executes arithmetic and logic operations.
4. Memory (MEM): 📦 Accesses memory for read/write operations.
5. Write Back (WB): 💾 Writes results back to registers.

🔤 Instruction Set

🛠️ Testing and Debugging

• ✅ Comprehensive tests for all instructions, including edge cases.
• 🔍 Data hazard detection verified with forwarding techniques.
• 🧪 JUnit tests for automated validation:
  • R-Type Instructions: add, sub, and, or, xor, sll, srl, slt
  • I-Type Instructions: addi, slti, lw, sw
  • Control Flow: beq, bnq, jump

🎨 Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Features

• Pipeline Visualization:
  • Displays the current state of all stages dynamically.
• Instruction Management:
  • Add, delete, update, and insert NOP instructions.
• Real-Time Updates:
  • Registers and memory contents refresh with every clock cycle.
• User Controls:
  • Clock++: Advances the simulation by one cycle.
  • Run: Starts the simulation.
  • Terminate: Stops the simulation and displays the final state.