SHDL—A Hardware Description Language and Open-Source Web Tool for Online Digital Systems Design Teaching
Hardware description languages and tools require a considerable amount of teaching activities in a digital systems design course, which is difficult to accommodate in a limited time frame, and to use for e-learning. This paper presents our user-friendly and open-source web-based digital design tool,...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Electronics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/12/2/425 |
| _version_ | 1797443407356887040 |
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| author | Andrej Trost Janez Jamšek Andrej Žemva |
| author_facet | Andrej Trost Janez Jamšek Andrej Žemva |
| author_sort | Andrej Trost |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hardware description languages and tools require a considerable amount of teaching activities in a digital systems design course, which is difficult to accommodate in a limited time frame, and to use for e-learning. This paper presents our user-friendly and open-source web-based digital design tool, SHDL, which is used to describe and simulate hardware components and translate them into a standard language. SHDL is a teaching language and tool for digital design, which aims to improve the teaching and learning experience in digital systems design courses. The use and evaluation of the proposed online teaching model for the Digital Electronic Systems Design (DESD) course, using the SHDL tool for e-learning during the COVID-19 phase, is presented. Using the SHDL language and web tool, we have created many examples of digital circuits that prepare students to explore their own designs. The example components can also be used as digital system modules, leading to better modularity of the final project. The use of SHDL in the DESD course has shown that the proposed language leads to fewer syntax, simulation and synthesis errors in the designed circuits. The evaluation results show that at the end of the laboratory exercises, there was no longer a difference in knowledge between the students without prior VHDL experience and the other students. The results encourage us to continue using SHDL, and to complement the traditional DESD teaching methods with e-learning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:55:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-19ccf6a0a58e4450bfd041f5276c544f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-9292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:55:37Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Electronics |
| spelling | doaj.art-19ccf6a0a58e4450bfd041f5276c544f2023-11-30T22:00:17ZengMDPI AGElectronics2079-92922023-01-0112242510.3390/electronics12020425SHDL—A Hardware Description Language and Open-Source Web Tool for Online Digital Systems Design TeachingAndrej Trost0Janez Jamšek1Andrej Žemva2Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaFaculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaFaculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaHardware description languages and tools require a considerable amount of teaching activities in a digital systems design course, which is difficult to accommodate in a limited time frame, and to use for e-learning. This paper presents our user-friendly and open-source web-based digital design tool, SHDL, which is used to describe and simulate hardware components and translate them into a standard language. SHDL is a teaching language and tool for digital design, which aims to improve the teaching and learning experience in digital systems design courses. The use and evaluation of the proposed online teaching model for the Digital Electronic Systems Design (DESD) course, using the SHDL tool for e-learning during the COVID-19 phase, is presented. Using the SHDL language and web tool, we have created many examples of digital circuits that prepare students to explore their own designs. The example components can also be used as digital system modules, leading to better modularity of the final project. The use of SHDL in the DESD course has shown that the proposed language leads to fewer syntax, simulation and synthesis errors in the designed circuits. The evaluation results show that at the end of the laboratory exercises, there was no longer a difference in knowledge between the students without prior VHDL experience and the other students. The results encourage us to continue using SHDL, and to complement the traditional DESD teaching methods with e-learning.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/12/2/425digital systems courseonline teachingweb toolslanguages and compilershardware description language |
| spellingShingle | Andrej Trost Janez Jamšek Andrej Žemva SHDL—A Hardware Description Language and Open-Source Web Tool for Online Digital Systems Design Teaching Electronics digital systems course online teaching web tools languages and compilers hardware description language |
| title | SHDL—A Hardware Description Language and Open-Source Web Tool for Online Digital Systems Design Teaching |
| title_full | SHDL—A Hardware Description Language and Open-Source Web Tool for Online Digital Systems Design Teaching |
| title_fullStr | SHDL—A Hardware Description Language and Open-Source Web Tool for Online Digital Systems Design Teaching |
| title_full_unstemmed | SHDL—A Hardware Description Language and Open-Source Web Tool for Online Digital Systems Design Teaching |
| title_short | SHDL—A Hardware Description Language and Open-Source Web Tool for Online Digital Systems Design Teaching |
| title_sort | shdl a hardware description language and open source web tool for online digital systems design teaching |
| topic | digital systems course online teaching web tools languages and compilers hardware description language |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/12/2/425 |
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