What algorithm do you suppose is used for the 32-bit addition?
The Binary Addition Algorithm (of Chapter 8)
It is awkward to keep saying:
The instruction, after it is assembled and loaded into main memory, upon execution does ....
Instead one says:
At run time the instruction does ...
For example,
At run time, the instruction ori $8,$0,0x2
loads register eight with a two.
Even sloppier is,
"the instruction ori $8,$0,0x2
loads register eight with a two."
It is vital that you understand that this phrase is a short way of saying the longer phrase. In a computer it is the bit patterns of machine instructions that cause things to happen, and things happen only at run time.
Sometimes one talks about assembly time, the phase where the assembler is creating bit patterns out of the source file.
(Review) In a typical computer system (not a simulated one) where does the assembler place the bit patterns it creates?