EvLer said:
Yeah, I am kind of excited after i looked more through the book (Wakerly) and they say the prof teaching it is quite good. But labs generally scare me, because I am slow and never sure my results are correct. We'll see, i guess...
In my first digital logic class, we designed a simple computer and spent the labs building it block by block. Are your labs building digital logic blocks like adders, MUXes, LFBSRs, etc? There's a little bit of binary math involved, but really not much. What kind of math did you see in the textbook? The only digital class where you'll get into a lot of math is digital filters, and it doesn't sound like your upcoming class will cover those yet...
As for the labs, don't let them worry you. The reason that they are included in the class is to get you to be more comfortable and familiar with the practical aspects of building and debugging circuits. Just be attentive and careful as you build stuff, and double-check everything. Heck, that's how you'll do it in the real world, so get used to it. You can also develop some good habits that will help you with the labs, and will also carry over into your future work building circuits. Like, once you draw a circuit that you're going to build, make a photocopy of it, and then highlight each net (wire) on the photocopy as you make the connection on your prototype board. That helps you to keep track of what you've wired and what you still have left to do. Also, when you plan where to put the parts on your prototype board, think about how you are going to wire them up, and place the parts in a good floorplan so that the wiring is easier without a lot of confusing crossover wires or long runs of wire. And if possible, use different color wires for different functional blocks and for different signals, etc.
And learn good practical debugging techniques and tools, like how to use a logic probe or DVM or oscilloscope to work your way through a logic block to find a problem. If it looks like the right signals are going into the block, but the output is behaving badly, then work your way step-by-step from inputs to output to find where a logic term is stuck or messed up somehow.
Good luck, and have fun! -Mike-
