Cachesim: A graphical software environment to support the teaching of computer systems with Cache memories

We present an educational software package (Cachesim) used as a teaching tool for studying and analysing computers with cache memories. Cachesim allows students to execute a program step-by-step, to observe the cache activity needed for a memory operation, to evaluate system performance by varying the program and/or the cache parameters and, finally, to analyse program behaviour by means of the memory references. The user interface is fully graphic: architectural modules of the simulated computer are managed as graphical objects and the main actions on them can be made by mouse clicks. The environment is based on Personal Computer and can be used on both MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows platforms. This paper describes this software package and the simulated computer features by examining a student's exercise.