[nbsd4lyfe]

> Breaking dords into bytes and vice-versa involves long sequences of shifts and logical operations

modern MIPS has "ext" and "ins", which are probably an improvement in that regard.

> plentiful-yet-unhelpfully-named registers

what's wrong with MIPS register names? my only comparison is x86 and that has been awful. I'm constantly looking up which registers are what.

[userbinator]

what's wrong with MIPS register names?

They're not really names, just "addresses" of a different form --- and of course, 0 is not really a register. x86 register names are supposed to be mnemonic, because certain instructions are only usable with, or have shorter forms when used with, the "right" register: Accumulator, Count, Base, Data/Divide, Stack Pointer, Base Pointer, Source Index, Destination Index.

[crankybear1337]

Those explanations for the x86 register mnemonics were great, thanks!

To me the MIPS registers seem pretty logical too, though: $zr for zero, $sp for stack pointer, $a0-3 for arguments, $t0-7 for temporaries and $s0-7 for saved registers. Much better than the plain numbered registers on some assembly flavors.