I believe that this is an enriching experience for all of us. Personally, before i attended this sabbaticals, i have never heard of the terms like microprocessors, hexadecimals, binary system, etc. Most of the things that the professors covered during the past four days were new to me.
An example would be programming the microprocessor using assembly language, something that i never would have thought i will do. It was quite an accomplishment for us when we had succeeded in installing the correct programme into the microprocessor and getting the desired outputs.
I am quite glad that i had chosen this project as i believe that all these stuff will not be taught in school and not something that will be found in the textbooks.
After these five short days, i feel that i have a greater understanding of how digital objects around us work now. In the past, i will take things like the computer, handphone and even the washing machine for granted. I will never be bothered to try to understand how they work and I never thought deeper than their functions. Now, i have begun to appreciate them more.
Thursday, 16 November 2006
reflection
( i do not know what we're supposed to write.. just some thoughts i suppose..)
Through this attachment, we have a better understanding of what a microprocessor is and what it does. We have also learnt to program the microprocessor, learning a language closer to that of the computer, communicating with the computer much more efficiently.
It is fascinating to see how man tries to pry into the world of the computers, lowering to the level of the computer just to communicate better with it, to make it work better for man. The alien language of the computer does not make sense at all to me. I had to refer to the list of "translation" all the time in order to write the commands in the programmes. I must say that it was rather tedious at first, trying to understand what the whole programming functions and instructions but after a while, I got the hang of it and was able to manipulate the whole programme. I felt a great sense of satisfaction when I was able to complete the tasks that we were given. Even just being able to understand the functions and instructions of the different steps of the program makes me feel accomplished.
As we learn to programme the microprocessors, we understood and learnt not to take things for granted. A simple button that we press to activate a machine such as a fan has much more behind it. The programming involved is definitely not just a simple step but with much more thoughts and effort before our simple machines work. This makes me stand in awe when I think about the mind behind much complex machines.
Through this attachment, we have a better understanding of what a microprocessor is and what it does. We have also learnt to program the microprocessor, learning a language closer to that of the computer, communicating with the computer much more efficiently.
It is fascinating to see how man tries to pry into the world of the computers, lowering to the level of the computer just to communicate better with it, to make it work better for man. The alien language of the computer does not make sense at all to me. I had to refer to the list of "translation" all the time in order to write the commands in the programmes. I must say that it was rather tedious at first, trying to understand what the whole programming functions and instructions but after a while, I got the hang of it and was able to manipulate the whole programme. I felt a great sense of satisfaction when I was able to complete the tasks that we were given. Even just being able to understand the functions and instructions of the different steps of the program makes me feel accomplished.
As we learn to programme the microprocessors, we understood and learnt not to take things for granted. A simple button that we press to activate a machine such as a fan has much more behind it. The programming involved is definitely not just a simple step but with much more thoughts and effort before our simple machines work. This makes me stand in awe when I think about the mind behind much complex machines.
Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Day 2
This morning, we connected up all the little components as planned. The dip-switch, LED, the buzzer and all the resistors and wires required to link them to the other components. I learnt quite a bit about how microchips worked from that. It was quite troublesome to have to cut the wires and plug them into the tiny little holes in the board, but was worth it as we got to learn about the form of assembly language used in this type of microprossesor. We went through the 3 basic programs that were typed out in the handouts and got a chance to try our hand at combining the 1st and 2nd and 1st and 3rd programs ourselves. This required quite a bit of thinking through as the teachers, though helpful, did not lucidly explain the basic 3 programs.
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