title: Does $ra returns the address of current instruction or the next instruction?
body: <p>I am very confused in the concept of returning address by $ra. Does it return the address of the <strong>current instruction</strong> being executed or the <strong>instruction to be executed next</strong>? For explanation please use the following code,</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <ol>
    <li>Consider a code fragment that calls three functions func_A,
    func_B, and func_C. The Instruction 1 is located at address 1996. What
    would be loaded in register $ra when each of the three functions is
    called?</li>
    </ol>
  </blockquote>
  
  <pre><code>Instruction 1
  Instruction 2
  jal func_A
  Instruction 3
  jal func_B
  Instruction 4
  jal func_C
  Instruction 5
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance.</p>