LY86-64: Implementation And Evaluation Of A Y86 Browser-Based Simulator

The Y86-64 PIPE project is a seminal project for Appalachian State University Computer Science majors. For many students, it is their first software product of significant size. After completing the project, students have a better understanding of computer systems and the software engineering skills and tools needed to develop large pieces of software. However, to implement the code, students need a sophisticated understanding of the machine being simulated. Of particular difficulty is the control logic and signals that direct the stages of the PIPE machine. Several Y86-64 simulators are available, but existing simulators display only the contents of memory and general-purpose registers. They do not provide a visualization of the complicated control logic and signals applied to pipeline registers. For this reason, we undertook the development of the LY86-64 (pronounced “lee 86-64”), a Y86-64 browser-based simulator. A survey of 47 students, some currently studying the Y86-64 PIPE machine and some who studied the machine in a previous semester, found that 100% of respondents believed that the simulator provides a better understanding of the control logic.