Using custom hardware and simulation to support computer systems teaching

ABSTRACT

Teaching computer systems, including computer architecture, assembly language programming and operating systems implementation, is a challenging occupation. At the University of Waikato we require all computer science and information systems students study this material at second year. The challenges of teaching difficult material to a wide range of students have driven us to find ways of making the material more accessible. The corner-stone of our strategy for delivering this material is the design and implementation of a custom CPU that meets the needs of teaching. In addition to the custom CPU we have developed several simulators that allow specific topics to be studied in detail.

This paper describes our motivation for devloping a custom CPU and supporting tools. We present our CPU and the teaching board and describe the implementation of the CPU in an FPGA. The simulators that that have been developed to support the teaching of the course are then described.

The paper concludes with a description of the current status of the project.

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