[Pet_Ant]

I mean if you want to be 1:1 with machine code, then don't look at the "J" Jump or "B" Branch instruction formats where the constant value is split into pieces and packed in around the registers.

With a '=' all OP is asking for is the wee-est bit of grammar (no more than in some addressing modes in CISC assemblers) and to change the order of the registers, which isn't crazy since immediates are already split.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC-V#Design

PS- while the instruction formats look crazy in isolation, there is a nice symmetry between them and if you start thinking about instruction decoding in discrete logic, they are actually quite an elegant design.

PPS- there is also “High Level Assembly” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Level_Assembly