CompSim: A Computer Simulator and Learning Module on Fetch and Execute Cycle of a Computer

Abstract

Students often have difficulty in comprehending introductory courses or subjects in computer organization and assembly language. A student needs to master a wide range of skills and details in order to understand these courses. These courses oftentimes are difficult to explain on paper and needs a hands-on teaching method. Students were often intimidated by the numerous binary notations that they do not need to understand [1]. There are no adequate tools to visualize the dynamic interaction of software with hardware during program execution at the machine level. With that in mind we need to develop a tool that simulates a working model of a general computer. CompSim is a web-based system with the following features: a learning module on fetch and execute cycle of a computer, a simulator that shows the operations of the fetch and execute cycle of a computer program, a text editor that would enable users to run assembly programs, a mini-assembly language to be used as the basic language for writing program codes in the system, and finally a parser that would parse the programs written in the text editor to verify the correctness of syntax/rules.