Student "edition" found at {csi dot journalspace dot com}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

In the first meeting of my Computer Systems Organization class for the sixth week of the third term, all I told them to do was to complete the circuits of the two functions (one using three variables or inputs and another using four) that I gave them during the meeting before in the lecture, that they were supposed to complete using only “NAND” gates, and similarly using only “NOR” gates.

But there were still some groups who have not finished their previous experiments, particularly the implementation of four variables and their complements.

Already one group has tried to ease up on their workload by showing me the complement of the previous function after attaching an inverter to the end of their previous circuit, but I caught on at once because of how fast they were able to finish relative to the previous times.

We had also settled into a routine where the groups would only call me when they had already checked for themselves if all of the outputs of their current circuit is correct, then I would sign that truth table in their notebook when I have verified the results for myself.

The students have tried to follow what the current inputs are by having their own copy of the truth table from their notebook, but instead of saying all the inputs, such as “one-zero-one” (except for “all zeroes” which I still start with) I just tell them to “switch input Z to one” or “move input Y to zero”, which moves all around the table and is not in any sequence.

In fact, I can change the order anytime I feel like it.

There are also some probably slightly dyslexic students who, although they remember that any voltage reading below two point five volts indicates low or zero and above two point five as high or one, in desperate need to show that their truth table is correct, sometimes interpret zero point four volts as high.

They could buy logic probes for their own ease of measurement, but so far, even though they have started purchasing their own chips and wires, they have not bought anything else. Maybe they will after I get one and show them the ease of its use.

Session 991’s reads low. Class dismissed.