Installing LC-3 tools on your machine

This page is for those interested in installing the LC-3 tools on their personal computer. This is optional; the EWS labs (when they're working) are perfectly suitable for working on LC-3 programs and indeed recommended - all MPs are graded based on and using software in EWS.

Here is a video from our own Tabish Shaikh doing an excellent rundown of the LC-3 tools package/software on EWS machines (recommended).

Note: If you liked the video and/or had any thoughts/comments please reach out to Tabish 🔗 and let him know!

The functionality of the app we discuss should be very similar to the above. Generally LC3Tools are designed to run on a Unix based system, so you will have the best luck on a Linux or Mac OS X system, both of which are Unix based.

However, recent efforts have ported a functioning Windows version. You can get the binary files for LC3Tools over at: https://github.com/chiragsakhuja/lc3tools/releases/latest 🔗. There are three OSes supported on the given link. Download the correct file as appropriate:

If you got through the process without errors, you should now have a working set of LC-3 tools on your computer!

Download the QuickStart guide 🔗 here that shows you how to use the binaries from Github.

☠️ Warning!

The Github page, provided binaries and online simulators, all implement the 3rd Ed. of Patt & Patel. The LC3Tools on EWS implements 2nd Ed. of Patt & Patel. The two main differences to watch out are:

  • LEA no longer sets a condition code

  • TRAP routines use RTI for return linkage rather than RET or JMP R7.

It is your responsibility to make sure any submitted code passes all tests on EWS machines without errors!!

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