DigiSlim: A learning tool for supplementing introductory courses in digital electronics

Students studying undergraduate courses in digital electronics often lose interest in the subject, due to the short comings of learning tools that are commonly used to supplement such courses. Ideally learning tools increase student participation in the learning process and help in overcoming difficulties inherent to the subject. Comparisons have been drawn between the existing learning tools. DigiSlim, the tool discussed in this paper provides a user friendly environment which empowers novices to create and simulate combinational as well as sequential circuits. Circuit simulations are facilitated through a novel combination of integrated progressive timing diagrams, dynamic value updates of selected circuit points, and dynamic circuit visualization. Existing circuits can also be encapsulated into smaller digital components to enable creation of more complex circuits. It has several other ancillary utilities such as a circuit / IC database and error handling.