<Integrated Course Activity>

The Integrated Course Activity provides students with a valuable hands-on experience using widely-used simulation tools, such as Logisim. This practical exercise takes students through a detailed, step-by-step exploration of a processor's instruction lifecycle, covering key stages from fetching and decoding instructions to executing them and writing back the results. By engaging in this process, students develop a deeper understanding of how processors handle instructions, interact with memory, and manage control flow. Additionally, they gain insights into the inner workings of the processor, allowing them to better grasp how hardware and software interact within a computer system.

<Processor Module Design>

N bit Arithmetic and Logical Unit

Performs arithmetic and logical operations on data.

Memory

Stores data and instructions that the CPU needs.

Register File

Holds immediate data during computation.

Special Function Register

Stores control flags for processor operations.

Processor Status Word

Contains flags that indicate the current state of the processor.

<Processor Module Integration>

Instruction Format

Defines how instructions are structured for different addressing modes.

Instruction Life Cycle

Fetch → Decode → Execute → Write-back.