We learned many things by doing this lab, especially including learning how to program in VHDL and use the graphical design functions of Altera Max+2. Through this we learned that while doing the graphical design might originally seem preferable, VHDL is, in fact, much easier to use. This is primarily due to the fact that when using VHDL, we did not have to keep track of all the complex wiring, while the graphical design often resulted in a confused tangle of wires.

In addition, this lab helped us understand many aspects of how general-purpose computers run. For example, our circuit runs a fetch-execute cycle like a regular computer through the program counter, program memory, and instruction register. In addition, we learned about the functions of specific registers in a computer, such as the accumulator and light register and how they can both hold information and relay signals which affect the output, in our case the lights. The memory is also the same as in a general-purpose computer, in that it cannot be modified and that it holds programs and relays them to the instruction register which parses the programs. Furthermore, the cds switch which enables dip-switch programs to be read is similar in function to interrupts in a general-purpose computer in that it is checked for once every fetch-execute cycle and disables other interrupts from happening until the cds switch is turned off.

One way in which the lab could be improved would be if it were to put less emphasis on graphical designing of circuits and simply instruct students to work in VHDL from the beginning. As previously mentioned, VHDL is much easier to use than graphical design. Other than that, we thought that the lab was well-constructed and very informative.

Click here to go to the previous part of the lab write-up.

Click here to return to the main menu.