Little Computer 3 (LC-3) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC). This means that its architecture uses a limited set of optimized instructions to complete tasks. We implemented a virtual machine (VM) in C that can run compiled LC-3 assembly. Given program code in a compiled OBJ file, the VM can execute the instructions in the file.
In order to do this, it uses the memory structure defined in the LC-3 specification, including program memory, program registers, and condition flags. It reads and writes to these memory structures and manages I/O through the terminal. Our VM successfully plays game files!