*Still a work-in-progress.

Cycle-Accurate Pipeline Simulator

This project is a lightweight, cycle-accurate simulator for a generic 5-stage processor pipeline, written in C++. It is designed as a foundational framework for computer architecture research and education, allowing for the simulation of instruction execution on a cycle-by-cycle basis.

Current State & Functionality

This is an early alpha version and serves as a bare-bones architectural framework.

• 5-Stage Pipeline: Implements a classic five-stage pipeline: Instruction Fetch (IF), Instruction Decode (ID), Execute (EXE), Memory Access (MEM), and Write-Back (WB).
• Modular Design: Each pipeline stage is implemented as a separate C++ class, inheriting from an abstract Module base class.
• Instruction Loading: The simulator loads machine code from an Altera-style Memory Initialization File (.mif).
• Sequential Execution: It correctly simulates the flow of simple, sequential instructions and basic procedure blocks.

Current Limitations

• No Hazard Handling: The simulator does not currently implement data forwarding or handle data/control hazards.
• No Branch/Jump Logic: The pipeline does not support branching or jumping instructions. The program counter (PC) simply increments.
• Testing: This version has undergone minimal testing and is intended as a proof-of-concept.

Dependencies

To compile and run this simulator, you will need:

• A modern C++ compiler (C++17 or later)
• The {fmt} library for formatted output.
• The Boost C++ Libraries (specifically for boost::circular_buffer).

How to Use & Configure

1. Set Instruction File Path: To load instructions, you must manually change the hardcoded file path in setup.hpp at line 127.

   // in setup.hpp
   void loadMem(std::vector<uint32_t>& memory, const std::string& filePath = "/path/to/your/instructions.mif") { ... }

2. Adjust Simulation Cycles: To change the number of simulation cycles, modify the loop parameter in main.cpp at line 16.

   // in main.cpp
   for (int cycle = 0; cycle < 10; ++cycle) { // Change '10' to the desired number of cycles
       // ...
   }

3. Debugging Stage Vectors: For a more detailed view of the input and output vectors of each pipeline stage, you can add stage[i]->printVectors(); within the main simulation loop in the Pipeline::tick() function.

Building and Running

You can compile the project using a C++ compiler like g++. Make sure to link the {fmt} library.

# Example compilation command
g++ main.cpp -o simulator

# Run the simulator
./simulator