title: Why does loading an integer in MIPS require a 'Load Word' function rather than a 'Load Address'?
body: <p>In the following code, in order to print an integer one must use 'lw' rather than 'la' like when you try to load a string. Why is this any different from loading a string since a string and integer are both stored at addresses in RAM? If I was unclear on anything please comment below.</p>
  
  <pre><code>.data
  myInt: .word 200  #This is a word or integer
  .text
  # prints an integer to the screen
  li $v0, 1
  lw $a0, myInt
  syscall
  </code></pre>