CREATOR: An Educational Integrated Development Environment for RISC-V Programming

Abstract

This article introduces a new integrated development environment called CREATOR (didaCtic and geneRic assEmbly progrAmming simulaTOR) that provides an interactive platform for educational assembly programming. CREATOR is specially designed for the academic environment, so it is very intuitive to users who are encountering assembly for the first time. It makes the traditional theory classes interactive, engaging students' participation. Moreover, it is a multiplatform simulator that can be used with a web browser without requiring a server or additional installations, and it can be used on different types of devices. CREATOR allows all the necessary steps to be performed on the same tool, from the implementation of the assembly program to its execution on real hardware. For this purpose, it allows editing, compiling, simulating, debugging, and loading the program on the hardware device without auxiliary software. In addition, it is also capable of detecting compilation errors, execution errors, and violations of the parameter passing convention, helping users understand the reason for a given error so that they can resolve it. CREATOR offers the RISC-V and MIPS32 architectures by default. However, it is possible to modify these architectures or add new architectures in the tool as needed by any user. This feature allows teachers to prepare practical labs adapted to the teaching objectives, and it can also be used for research, e.g., for the study of different instruction sets. INDEX TERMSAssembly programming, educational simulator, ESP32-RISCV, integrated development environment (IDE), RISC-V.