MIPS assembly is, in my opinion, the simplest way to learn the basics of assembly, and the amazing thing about MIPS assembly is that it's still used to this very day.
Now, to start coding with MIPS assembly I highly recommend to download MARS, with this you can compile and run your code and debug it with the built-in tools and generally makes the whole progress of programming in MIPS a whole lot easier.
MIPS assembly follows the RISC architecture (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) which makes the instruction set a whole lot easier to remember.
Besides the instruction set of MIPS, there are a few other things to remember, such as the registers (each register has a range of 32 bits):
- $zero: Contains the constant value of 0
- $v0 - $v1: The return values of a function
- $a0 - $a3: The parameters of a function
- $t0 - $t9: See them as the variables we will be using
- $ra: The return address
Now, you don't need to remember all of the register and what they do, for now you only need to remember the $t0 to $t9 registers, later on you can come back and learn what the rest of the registers are supposed to be used for.
Now for the instruction set itself you can download this PDF file which includes all of the things you need to know about the MIPS assembly, and don't read all of the instruction to try to memorize them right off the bat. Little steps is what makes an amateur to a professional at any subject given enough time and practice.
Notes:
Before you start this tutorial you need to know how the binary system works, how to convert numbers to the binary system or to the hexadecimal system and vice versa.
This tutorial will include MIPS assembly examples with the source code included for every tutorial.
Please, before proceeding to the next tutorial, mess around with the current example (change some values there and there, analyze what it does, it's structure etc.). You won't anything learn if you don't mess around.