Further Reading

Most computer organization and architecture books have a brief discussion of digital logic and Boolean algebra. The books by Stallings (2000) and Patterson and Hennessy (1997) contain good synopses of digital logic. Mano (1993) presents a good discussion on using Kmaps for circuit simplification (discussed in the focus section of this chapter) and programmable logic devices, as well as an introduction to the various circuit technologies. For more in-depth information on digital logic, see the Wakerly (2000), Katz (1994), or Hayes (1993) books.

For a good discussion of Boolean algebra in lay terms, check out the book by Gregg (1998). The book by Maxfield (1995) is an absolute delight to read and contains informative and sophisticated concepts on Boolean logic, as well as a trove of interesting and enlightening bits of trivia (including a wonderful recipe for seafood gumbo!). For a very straightforward and easy book to read on gates and flip-flops (as well as a terrific explanation of what computers are and how they work), see the book by Petgold (1989). Davidson (1979) presents a method of decomposing NAND-based circuits (of interest because NAND is a universal gate).

If you are interested in actually designing some circuits, there is a nice simulator freely available. The set of tools is called the Chipmunk System. It performs a wide variety of applications, including electronic circuit simulation, graphics editing, and curve plotting. It contains four main tools, but for circuit simulation, Log is the program you need. The Diglog portion of Log allows you to create and actually test digital circuits. If you are interested in downloading the program and running it on your machine, the general Chipmunk distribution can be found at www.cs.berkeley.edu/~lazzaro/chipmunk/. The distribution is available for a wide variety of platforms (including PCs and Unix machines).