Blending object-oriented design principles and software engineering practices into an undergraduate architecture simulator project
Cindy Norris, James B. Fenwick, James T. Wilkes, Kenneth H. Jacker · 2005
It is well understood pedagogically that students learn better through active involvement. Thus the use of architecture simulators can enhance student learning in a computer organization, assembly programming, or architecture course. A deeper understanding can be attained by having students actually construct an architecture simulator. This paper describes the object-oriented design of a junior-level architecture course project that centers around the construction of a PDP-11 simulator. In addition, since this is a substantial system to build, the project blends in a number of software development practices designed to expose students in a practical and subtle way to valuable software engineering principles.