Welcome to LittleManComputer.co.uk
Introduction
This Little Man Computer simulator is designed to help students of computer science to learn how a CPU functions. It allows teachers and students to run through the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle of the LMC, step-by-step, one cycle at a time, or fully automatically. Enabling animation shows data and address as the move around the computer.
Why another LMC simulator?
There are some great LMC simulators in existence, but having watched my students at KS3, GCSE and at A-level all struggle to fully understand the steps of the FDE cycle I felt there was a need for a new version. This version focuses on clarity for the student, describes and animates each step of the FDE cycle, and features all the parts of the CPU and registers students are expected to know.
Inspirations
I would like to pay homage to Mike Coley and Peter Higginson, their version of the LMC simulator has helped me teach many students about CPUs and their animations are the inspiration for the animations in this version. Their excellent LMC simulator can be found at https://peterhigginson.co.uk/lmc.
Bugs and Feature Requests
If you find a bug, anything at all, please let me know. You can email me at mark@qwiqr.co.uk. Similarly if you think of a feature that you think I should include, please let me know. I won't make any promises, but I want this simulator to be as useful for teachers/students as possible .
Current Extensions
- The current version supports the OTC mnemonic that many other simulators support.
Future Plans
- Add addressing mode support, including an index register, and LDX (load index) mnemonic. The purpose is to support the teaching of addressing modes at A-Level.
Source Code
If you wish to see the source code for this simulator, it is available on GitHub at https://github.com/markwa/littlemancomputer. The source code is freely available under the GPL-3.0 license.
About the Author
My name is Mark, I am a Computer Science, Physics and Engineering teacher based in Gloucestershire. I create webapps that will help me as a teacher and I like to share them with others. if you like this webapp you might also like:
- https://qwiqr.education - A webapp that helps teachers give audio feed back to their students linked to a QR code sticker, attached to their work.
- https://science-planner.com - A webapp that helps science teachers (and others) plan their lessons and co-ordinate lab requests.
- https://lessontimer.com - A very simple lesson activity timer.
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| Mark + Kate |