A COMPUTER-AIDED TEACHING PACKAGE FOR MICROPROCESSOR SYSTEMS EDUCATION

This paper describes a computer-aided teaching (CAT) package for use in a microprocessor systems course. It uses the Z80 CPU [1], [5] as the basis for describing how an 8-bit CPU functions internally and as the master of a microcomputer system [2]-[4]. The package, which consists of an assembler and a graphics simulator, aids as a powerful teaching tool that enables the student to learn about the internal architecture of a microprocessor [7]-[10] as applied to the Z80 CPU and its instruction set with a step by step graphics animation of the instruction execution and timing. The package allows the user to execute a program step by step and to test the operation of the internal registers, buses, and memory contents at every clock edge. This helps the student to understand exactly how the hardware works at the clock cycle, machine cycle, and instruction cycle levels. It also simulates read/write cycles from/to memory and input-output devices. Finally, it allows the user to write and debug programs at the assembly language or machine code level. The package is menu driven, interactive, flexible, and user-friendly.