## MARS Assembler

[MARS][1] is a lightweight interactive development environment (IDE) for programming in MIPS assembly language, intended for educational-level use with Patterson and Hennessy's Computer Organization and Design.

MARS has been jointly developed by [Pete Sanderson][4] (programming) and [Ken Vollmar][5] (details and paperwork).

## Download
 - You can download the latest version [at the official website][6].

## Purpose of this repo
This repo is a mirror of the source code of MARS Assembler. Thought the source code is into the "MARS.jar" file at the download page, this is a mirror for people who wants to have the source code forked or that stuff.

## Documentation (included in the repo)
 - Go to the [documentation][7].
 - In order to run or compile MARS v4.XX, **MARS requires Java J2SE 1.5 (or later) SDK installed on your computer**.

## How to run MARS
 - **Option A**: Desktop. Save the jar file on the desktop. Run MARS by double-clicking the icon.
 - **Option B**: DOS shell using jar file. Save the jar file in some folder. Open a DOS shell in that folder. Rename the jar file to "Mars.jar" for convenience. Run MARS with the DOS command  java -jar Mars.jar
 - **Option C**: DOS shell using Java classes. Save the jar file in some folder. Open a DOS shell in that folder. Rename the jar file to "Mars.jar" for convenience. Extract MARS files with the DOS command  jar -xf Mars.jar Run MARS with the DOS command  java Mars

## How to compile
 - **Windows**: execute "CreateMarsJar.bat" file to generate an executable. You have to have 

## To-Do
 - ".sh" file to create an executable. 

## License
[MIT][2]. Chech the [LICENSE][3] file. All the credits go to the original developers.

  [1]: http://courses.missouristate.edu/KenVollmar/MARS/index.htm
  [2]: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html
  [3]: https://github.com/adolphenom/MARS_Assembler/blob/master/LICENSE
  [4]: http://faculty.otterbein.edu/PSanderson/
  [5]: http://courses.missouristate.edu/KenVollmar/
  [6]: http://courses.missouristate.edu/KenVollmar/MARS/download.htm
  [7]: http://courses.missouristate.edu/KenVollmar/MARS/Help/MarsHelpIntro.html