How to Run the Assembler / Simulator program for Mano machine
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The all-in-one software that is the Integrated Development Environment for the 
assembly language program development, assembler,and the simulator for a simple 
computer system (specified in "Computer System Architecture 3/e", Prentice-Hall, 
1993, by Mano, M.M.) is written in Java and is available as "Assembler.jar", a 
Java Archive format file.  

You will need Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) and Java SE Development Kit (JDK)
installed on your computer to be able to run my software. 

No special installation of my assembler program is needed.  You just need to save
the "Assembler.jar" file in a folder on your computer.  On MS Windows systems, 
just double-click the "Assembler.jar" file icon to run the program.  On a system
using a command line window, issue a
	java -jar Assembler.jar
command to invoke the program.

There is a menu choice, called "Demo program", under File menu of the software. 
This choice will place a demo program in the source program frame.  Note that the 
demo program is not loaded from a file.  It is hard-coded (i.e., constructed) by 
the software.  You can then compile and run the demo program.  Explore the source
program, symbol table, and output shown on various frames to figure out on which 
memory addresses the variables are allocated and how their values are changed.  
This demo program does not do any input or output operations.

You may try to get familiar with menu choices.  You can save the demo source 
program and open it later for editing.

In addition to the "Assembler.jar", two example programs in the assembly language 
can be downloaded.  The first one, "LowToUpError.asm" will cause a compilation 
error.  Try to find out the mistake and correct it, or open the second file, 
"LowToUp.asm", which is free of compilation errors.  This example will read an 
8-character string, convert any lower case letters to corresponding upper case 
letters, and then output the resulting string.  After compilation, the program can 
be executed.  You may enter the 8-character input string, in the input stream  
textbox, before the execution or during the execution.  Either way, you will enjoy 
the step-by-step illustration of how the characters are transferred from one place 
to another.  You may explore the historical records of the contents of the registers
to see the busy-wait loops  during the input/output operations.

If you have any questions on installing Java JDK, visit the site:  java.sun.com

If you have any questions on running my assembler program, or using my assembler 
program, I'll be glad to answer them.  If you find any bugs in my software, please
report them to me.   Any comments and suggestions on the software and its usage will 
be helpful to me.  You can contact me by e-mail at the address: 
	"thans" at the mail server domain "vmi.edu"

Please feel free to use my software and share it with your students.


Soe Than
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Virginia Military Institute
Lexington, VA 24450