1. Digital

  • Feel free to use your laptop

  • You are strongly encourage to work with others

    • When you get stuck, ask those sitting around you for help

    • Get used to working together in the labs

    • Peer teaching and peer learning has been empirically shown to be very effective

1.1. Starting with Digital

  1. Download and uncompress Digital, the simulation software used in this course

    • Digital can be downloaded from here

    • Be sure to save it somewhere useful

    • Don’t forget to uncompress the file

  2. Run Digital

    • Open the uncompressed folder and run it

    • On Windows, run the executable (exe) file

    • On Mac or Linux, run the bash (sh) or java archive (jar) file from a terminal opened to the proper directory

      • ./Digital.sh

      • java -jar Digital.jar

    • A java runtime environment is required to run the software

      • Digital should prompt for a download if necessary

  3. Skip the tutorial for now

    • The tutorial will be done shortly

  4. Place an input and output on the workspace and connect them with a wire

    • Input components can be found through the top menu Components -> IO -> Input

    • Output components can be found in the same menu

    • Wires are added by clicking and then moving the mouse around the workspace

    • Have the input and output components such that a single, straight horizontal wire connects them

    ../../_images/input_output.png

  5. Run the circuit and interact with the input button

    • Select the play button to run the circuit

    ../../_images/run_button.png

1.2. Interacting with the Workspace

  1. Make a copy of the circuit

    • This can achieved by selecting the whole circuit with a click and drag, copy, and paste

    • Once selected, copy with the hotkey ctrl + c

    • Paste with ctrl + p

  2. Remove the copy by performing undo commands

    • Undo can be done with the hotkey ctrl + z

    • Redo can be done with ctrl + y

  3. Move the output higher or lower vertically such that the input and output are not on the same line

    • This can be done by selecting a portion of the circuit to move with a click and drag

    • Then, click and drag the selected portion of the circuit up or down

    • Be mindful to have the output component and the wire selected before moving it

      • Otherwise the output will disconnect from the circuit

  4. After doing this, the wire is likely diagonal; however, ideally the wires are kept horizontal and vertical only

  5. Delete the wire and add a new wire that is made up of only vertical and horizontal segments

  6. Now try to move the output component around, while staying connected to the circuit, without adding diagonal segments

    • Be mindful of what segments of the wire are selected before dragging them around the workspace

    • This takes some getting used to

    • If diagonals are created, undo and try re-selecting different segments of the wire before dragging components

    ../../_images/input_output_segments.png

  7. Excluding the “Components” menu, explore the different top menus and options within them,

    • Play around with the options and settings to see what they do

1.3. Tutorial

  1. Delete everything or create a new file

  2. Run the tutorial

    • The tutorial can be started by selecting View -> Start Tutorial

  3. As the tutorial instructed, run the circuit and interact with it in real time

  4. Re-run the circuit in “Single Gate Stepping” mode and see how this differs from running the circuit regularly

    • Make use of the “Gate Step” button

    ../../_images/run_step_button.png

  5. Stop the circuit open the analyze window and make sense of what it shows

    • Found in Analysis -> Analysis

  6. Add a Data Graph component to the workspace, re-run the circuit, and interact with the inputs

    • The Data Graph component is found under Component -> IO -> Data Graph

    • The Data Graph component does not need to be connected to anything

1.4. Explore Components

Much of the components that Digital provides are complex, and several will be discussed and worked towards in this course. At this stage, there is no expectation that any of these components are understood by the students.

  1. Start adding different components to the workspace and try to interact with them

    • Some of these will be easier to understand than others

    • Some components have special settings that can be altered by right clicking on the component

    • If a component does not make sense, right click on the component and select “Help”

1.5. Digital’s Example Files

Digital provides many example circuits that are included with the software.

  1. Explore provided files by loading them, running them, and interacting with them

    • Open these files through the File -> Open menu

    • These provided circuits cam be found within the “examples” folder within the “Digital” folder

    • There are many, so do not expect to open every one

    • Take the time to explore those that seem interesting

      • Some are quite fun

    • Share interesting ones with those around you

1.6. Playing

  1. Play around within Digital and the various components to try and build something interesting

    • Work together and share ideas with one another

    • Ask questions if stuck

    • Have fun