Introducing computer structure by machine simulation

Author

Silvester, Peter P.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., McGill Univ., Montreal, Que., Canada

Volume

33

Issue

4

fYear

1990

fDate

11/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

326

Lastpage

332

Abstract

A simple computer simulator used to introduce freshmen engineering students to machine structure through assembly programmable is described. A four-week course module is described, suited to the IEEE curriculum recommendations. It is built around a simulator called Simian and an accompanying assembler keyed to the IEEE-694 standard. Simian simulates a byte-addressable 32-bit machine, continuously displaying register contents and selected portions of memory. Version of Simian exist for both Unix and MS-DOS, permitting students to use it both in the laboratory and on personal computers. Learning time for Simian itself, a critical parameters in simulators designed for teaching, is 1-2 hours for students with little prior computer experience

Keywords

computer aided instruction; computer science education; digital simulation; microcomputer applications; software packages; teaching; virtual machines; CAI; MS-DOS; Simian; Unix; assembly programmable; byte-addressable 32-bit machine; computer science; computer structure; curriculum; education; engineering students; memory; personal computers; register contents; software packages; standard; teaching; Assembly; Computational modeling; Computer architecture; Computer simulation; Data engineering; Education; Logic programming; Programming profession; Random access memory; Registers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Education, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9359

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/13.61084

Filename

61084