Low Level Computer Teaching Options

We have a current discussion on the COSMAC Elf Discussion Group that centers on the idea of a small computer to teach low level computer concepts. Many of us in the group got our start with the COSMAC Elf as our first home computer. It is a small, simple, inexpensive computer. One of its finest points is that it is simple enough that a person of ordinary intelligence can understand how every part of it works, down to the lowest detail.

The place for a small teaching computer, as we're discussing it, lies somewhere between electronics and the standard non-computer science introductory computer programming class. It's a matter of teaching what the components in the system do, and how they do it. This becomes a model of what happens inside more powerful modern computers at larger scale. Such as in current desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

The COSMAC Elf, this version includes video graphics.

Is anyone using something along the lines of a microprocessor trainer in the classroom today outside a college level EE class?

Personally I can see two general approaches to this, with several possible variations on the two themes. Let's look at them, then I'll go into Blue Sky mode to talk about what I sort of wish for.

Some Ways to Bring Computer Hardware into Class
One is to fake it entirely with present-day hardware. After all, if it's possible to do a complete chip-level simulation of an 8-bit processor in Javascript, it shouldn't be much of a stretch to simulate an entire simple 8-bit microcomputer in a program with the ability to "see" all the operations inside simulated on the screen.

The problem is that this still really fails to make what's being taught "real". To the students, it becomes just another show to watch--one with no particular interest to most of them.

The other approach is to use an actual old microcomputer in class, like the Elf, with the students handling the system, measuring voltages or using logic probes to "see" the signals in the computer. Something more sophisticated would be using chip clips with LEDs on the various lines as a sort of multi-line logic probe. (Here is a place where an Elf or other RCA1802-based system would shine. The 1802 is a fully static processor. It can run at clocks speeds from 0Hz on up to its maximum clock speed, with clock changes on the fly. I have literally clocked 1802 systems by hand by connecting and disconnecting the clock line to +5V and Ground lines, counting out machine cycles as displays show the status of various system lines. There are not a lot of computer systems that can do that!)



Between these two lie many other options. One would be to have a hardware board that connects to a modern computer through a common interface, like USB, where some I/O devices could be visible controlled by the computer (via lights, motors, etc.) and with lines exposed that can safely be probed by the students.

Another would be using a more modern hardware platform, perhaps based on one or more microcontrollers that emulate the function of an older system, exposing such things as memory access, control signals, and so on to the students. The board could include displays and LEDs to show the status of the lines, internal pseudo-registers, and so on. The operation of the entire system, both inside and outside the simulated ICs, could be made available to the student's eyes.

Part of what needs definition is the acceptable limitations of the system. In my own case, I see such a system as being an introduction to low-level hardware operation and control of that operation through software.

Blue Sky Dreaming
If I could have what I wanted without any effort on my part or a significant amount of the school's money, here's what I'd like:

Step 1
I would want to introduce a basic system that's very similar to the original Elf of 1976.

It would have:

• Toggle switch inputs (to associate signals with data and to help teach binary),


• A binary LED display and a two-digit hexadecimal display,


• Very limited memory (about 128 to 256 bytes)(to teach how much can be done in limited memory, and to limit the size of early programs to sane sizes.


• Exposed memory and I/O lines, possibly with LED monitors


• Extra monitors, like maybe dual color LEDs to show data direction on I/O ports, etc.


• A simple machine language with whole-word mnemonics.


• The ability to operate at extremely low clock speeds (0-100Hz) as well as higher speeds (1-10MHz or something like.)

Step 2

• Hexadecimal Keyboard


• 512B to 1024B of RAM

After the first few lessons, the toggle switches would get old and I'd want to introduce a hexadecimal keypad. This would teach hexadecimal, and continue the association of computer instructions with numeric values in the computer. Presumably the connection between signal levels and numbers has been made using toggle switches.

With the easier input technique, it'd be nice to add some more memory, up to something like 512 bytes to 1 kilobyte.

Step 3

• Keyboard with instruction mnemonics and hex digits


• Perhaps more memory, up to about 4K

Next, a keyboard would be attached. Perhaps writing software to interface the keyboard to the system would be one of the Step 2 projects. While I'd be tempted to use an ASCII keyboard, I think a raw matrix keyboard would teach more. On this keyboard, machine language instructions and hexadecimal numbers would be mapped to each key. This would again speed programming, and reduce errors. The simple machine language I envision has a particular addressing mode associated with each mnemonic, so there's still no assembling of code required.

Step 4: A larger step
Next, I'd move to a more abstract level. I believe that the activities prior to this point would teach low level operations well enough to take this jump and still be able to show the connection between the two.

For step 4, the computer would get:

• More memory. Anywhere from 4K to 64K. Perhaps it would start at 4K and grow as the students hit the limitations of each memory size.


• A terminal connection to a current generation computer for keyboard and display, or an encoded keyboard and some other form of text display.


• New firmware (probably activated from on-board with a mode switch), which would provide a fairly sophisticated command line interface with command editing, recall, etc., as well as an interactive programming language. The specific language doesn't matter too much, it could be a BASIC, a bash-alike, a LOGO, or an interactive form of some other compiled language.


• Mass storage. Probably some modern semiconductor memory.

The point at this step would be writing high level programs to perform low level actions like those seen in the earlier steps. Seeing line levels and I/O operations performed, using bitwise operators, seeing the signals represented as numbers of various bases within the language (which I'd expect to support at least binary, hex, and decimal for representation and constants.)

Step 5
The final step with the low level computer would be to produce more sophisticated programs. These would be longer programs, probably projects done by groups of students over a few weeks in class. At this point the understanding of the program control structures and data structures should be a bridge to programming in the chosen language directly on the modern computer.

Final Thoughts
These thoughts are somewhat half-baked as they stand. I or someone would have to do some more work to really define this and turn it into hardware and software and a curriculum to go with it. Some points that need considering are the demarcation between this and a robotics class, common in many schools now (including the one at which I teach.) Also, how much class time does this merit? And so on.

Personally I think that using a micro trainer level system is simple enough to be mastered by most middle-school level students. I've got some actual experience with students to back that up, in addition to my own experience (I was 14 when I constructed my own Elf.) For the students, the information not only gives them an understanding of the underlying technologies of current systems, but would open the doors to embedded systems, far more common than conventional general purpose computers. Either way, it would make the computer far less a piece of technical magic controlled by somebody else and far more something comprehensible, and therefore controllable, by themselves.

Some related work--a 4 bit TTL Processor.

The fact is, all the steps above would probably be unnecessary and involve too many changes to the hardware platform to be practical in class. A more reasonable approach would probably be to go from a slightly more capable Step 1 computer directly to Step 4. This would reduce the opportunity for student disorientation as a result of seemingly constant hardware changes, and still be enough to get the key points across.

The activities I envision for Steps 2 and 3 could be either dropped or performed in either the initial or final configuration of the system. This would also simplify the system itself.