Sun, 8 Feb 2009, 16:44

A student writes:

	
	
	Dr. Patt,

	It's not clear what the assembler should do if there are multiple 
	errors in the program. For example:
	    .ORIG x3000
	    XLABEL MUL R0, R1, R2
	    .END

	Depending on the order the assembler checks for errors, 
	the error code will be different. 



Absolutely.

	
	
	For the above program, the golden assembler returns error code
	4 (bad label). But it could have (I believe correctly) returned 
	error code 2 (invalid opcode). Can we assume that the grading 
	script will only have one error in a program? 



No.  ...but if it has more than one, it is not a problem.  Whichever
error your assembler catches first is fine with me.

	
	
	I have "fixed" my assembler to match the golden
	assembler in all tests cases I could find. But it would be 
	nice to clarify this for future students.

	<<name withheld to protect the student concerned about future students>>



Thank you.
Yale Patt