Enhancing VHDL learning through a light-weight integrated environment for development and automated checking

Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/ReportConference contributionContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Akash Kumar - , National University of Singapore (Author)
  • Rajesh C. Panicker - , National University of Singapore (Author)
  • Ashraf Kassim - , National University of Singapore (Author)

Abstract

The development environments for Hardware Description Languages (HDLs) are essentially meant and designed for highly trained professionals/ engineers and as such are not suitable for use as an introductory tool for students learning HDLs. With students adopting a variety of operating systems, there is a need for a light-weight and cross-platform environment. Further, such a development environment for students should be able to provide some feedback about the functional correctness of their program. In this paper, we describe an open-source environment for developing and simulating VHDL programs on the client side, and a server side application for automated checking of submissions. The client has been developed for three desktop operating systems - Windows, Linux and MacOSX. The server application runs on Linux. The client allows students to develop and simulate VHDL programs. They can also submit programs to a remote server for automated verification. The environment - client and server, has been used for two semesters at the National University of Singapore to provide an enhanced learning experience to the students in a first year course on digital fundamentals.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE)
PublisherIEEE Xplore
Pages570-575
Number of pages6
ISBN (print)978-1-4673-6355-6
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

SeriesIEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE)

Conference

Title2013 2nd IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2013
Duration26 - 29 August 2013
CityKuta
CountryIndonesia

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Automated checking, Integrated development environment, Simulation, VHDL