Be a simulator developer and go beyond in computing engineering

This work presents a methodology based on simulator developers to be applied in several courses as well as research activities. This proposal is also based on “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” lessons. First, good programmers know what to write, however great ones know what to rewrite. Students could learn by developing new components to be added to the current simulator. Second, any tool should be useful in the expected way, but a truly great tool lends itself to uses you never expected. The proposed simulator has been developed to teach digital circuits. However, it can be used in many other computing engineering fields. Third point is motivation, where the lessons are driven by the following principle: To solve an interesting problem, start by finding a problem that is interesting to you. Nowadays, we are surrounded by Internet of things, where the simulator engine could be connected to learn and to motivate the students. Image processing could be taught by connecting your web-cam and/or your mobile device camera to your simulator engine. Moreover, mobile phones and/or Arduino devices have a set of sensors that could be captured inside of the virtual simulator lab.