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README documents nothing operational: no toolchain, no build or run command, no mention of the hardcoded operands #5

Description

@dmccoystephenson

Observed

README.md is two lines in full:

# multiplyTwoNumbers
A simple program in LC3 Assembly that multiplies the R1 and R2 registers and stores the result in R0.

No assembler is named. No simulator is named. No command is given for assembling the file, for running it, or for inspecting R0 once HALT is reached. That the committed program hardcodes 5 and 6 rather than accepting caller-supplied operands is not mentioned.

Impact

Every operational fact about the project has to be recovered by opening the .asm and reading it. A reader who wants to see the program produce a number has no starting point at all: LC-3 has several mutually incompatible toolchains, and which one this file targets is not recorded anywhere in the tree.

Suggested content

Short Build and Run sections, naming the specific toolchain the project targets, giving the exact commands, and showing where the result appears. Two further sentences are worth including:

  • the committed program computes 5 x 6 as written, because TESTCODE: loads those operands unconditionally;
  • multiplication is performed by repeated addition, so runtime scales with the second operand, and products above 32767 wrap silently in LC-3's 16-bit two's-complement registers.

Blocked on a toolchain decision

This cannot be written honestly from the current environment. No LC-3 assembler or simulator is installed here (which lc3as lc3sim lc3convert lc3tools complx found nothing), and a README naming a toolchain nobody ran is worse than one naming none. Every command and every register value shown must be produced by a real run before being committed. Which LC-3 toolchain the project targets is a decision for the owner.


This issue body was drafted during a Gardener session (https://github.com/Stephenson-Software/gardener).

drafted by Claude on behalf of Daniel Stephenson

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