How can we dereference a pointer in assembly code (MIPS)?

Question

I saw this question and I would like to know how can we dereference the pointer to int?
This is the code:

int load(int *ptr) 
{
    return *ptr;
}

Now, I know that $a0 contains the pointer. So that's the address of an integer, which we need to return.

Now that I think about it, it's completely wrong..@JensBjörnhager — Chris, Aug 28 '12 at 13:21
@Chris well I actually don't know anything about MIPS, but that seems about right.. — harold, Aug 28 '12 at 13:45

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 28 '12 at 22:45

5

In MIPS, you dereference a pointer contained in register $a0 like this:

LW $v0, 0($a0)
JR $ra

answered Aug 28 '12 at 22:45

markgz

So now $v0 contains the binary equivalent of the integer that ptr points to, right? – Chris Aug 30 '12 at 13:09

1 Answers1