title: What is the function of parentheses in MIPS?
body: <p>I've been working through a project book as an introduction to MIPS and I've come across a problem. One of the lines of code in the book is <code>lb    $t3, ($t2)</code>. I have no clue what the parentheses do because prior to this, I haven't seen them used, and the book just doesn't mention them to begin with. Why wouldn't the code just be <code>lb    $t3, $t2</code>?</p>