A Logic Simulator to Support Design Instruction

Digital and computer systems have received increased attention in recent years, and it has become necessary to introduce more digital design into already busy undergraduate electrical engineering programs. This paper describes a very simple digital hardware logic simulator that is in use to expand the undergraduate digital design education without increasing the student's work load. The student is exposed to the concept of digital hardware simulation in addition to the usual studies in digital logic design. This addition of simulation requires limited additional effort, and it reduces the laboratory debugging effort required of the novice designer. Substantial error checking is included to encourage good design practice. The simulator runs on several computers including various personal computers.