Reading Morris Mano's Digital Design? Build its circuits live
Digital Design, by M. Morris Mano and Michael D. Ciletti, is one of the classic university textbooks for a first course in digital logic; its 6th edition, published by Pearson, is titled Digital Design: With an Introduction to the Verilog HDL, VHDL, and SystemVerilog, with a Global Edition sold outside the US. Its ten chapters run from Digital Systems and Binary Numbers, Boolean Algebra and Logic Gates, Gate-Level Minimization and Combinational Logic, through Synchronous Sequential Logic, Registers and Counters, Memory and Programmable Logic and Design at the Register Transfer Level, to Laboratory Experiments with Standard ICs and FPGAs and Standard Graphic Symbols. This page maps each chapter to lessons and live circuits you can try in digiwleea's free browser lab, as a hands-on companion to the reading.
What the book does best
It is thorough and systematic in the way exams are: number systems and codes, Boolean algebra and Karnaugh maps worked step by step, the standard combinational blocks (adders, decoders, encoders, multiplexers), then flip-flops, state tables and state diagrams, registers and counters, memory, and register-transfer design, with Verilog, VHDL and SystemVerilog alongside the schematics. A chapter of laboratory experiments with standard ICs ties it to real hardware. (digiwleea is an independent project, not affiliated with Pearson or the authors.)
Where digiwleea helps
A textbook figure stands still. digiwleea is a visual, switch-level simulator in the browser: you build gates from CMOS transistors, then wire adders, multiplexers, decoders, latches, flip-flops, counters and memory, and watch every wire as you flip the inputs, with each part checked against its truth table. The K-map and Boolean tools check your minimization exercises, and the course carries on past the book's datapath chapter to a whole 8-bit CPU that runs a stored program, plus the assembly language behind it (the ground Mano covers in Computer System Architecture).
| Digital Design (Mano) | digiwleea | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | A textbook (print and e-book) | A browser lab, theory lessons and a guided course |
| How circuits are described | Schematics, Verilog, VHDL and SystemVerilog | Schematics you wire, from transistors up |
| Minimization | Karnaugh maps worked by hand | The same, plus solvers that check your answer |
| Goes up to | Register-transfer design and a datapath | An 8-bit CPU you build and program |
| Price | Paid textbook | Free lab and Act I; Premium for the full course |
Chapter by chapter: what to try live
The chapter titles are the 6th edition's; next to each, the digiwleea lessons and live circuits on the same topics:
- 1. Digital Systems and Binary Numbers. Binary, hexadecimal, two's complement and codes: the base converter, one's and two's complement calculators, BCD, Gray code and the Hamming code calculator.
- 2. Boolean Algebra and Logic Gates. Boolean algebra, De Morgan's laws and canonical forms; practice with the Boolean algebra problems and the logic gates quiz; gates from transistors in the CMOS NAND.
- 3. Gate-Level Minimization. Karnaugh maps and the K-map solver (up to 6 variables), the Boolean simplifier, and NAND-only and NOR-only circuits: NAND and NOR universal gates.
- 4. Combinational Logic. Half and full adders, the 4-bit adder and adder-subtractor, the BCD adder, the magnitude comparator, decoders, encoders, the priority encoder and multiplexers.
- 5. Synchronous Sequential Logic. The SR latch, D, JK and T flip-flops, state machines and a live sequence detector.
- 6. Registers and Counters. The register with parallel load, shift registers and the universal shift register, ripple and synchronous counters, ring and Johnson counters.
- 7. Memory and Programmable Logic. RAM, ROM and PLAs, the memory simulator, the register file and the Hamming code circuit for error correction.
- 8. Design at the Register Transfer Level. The datapath and control lessons, with live blocks: the accumulator, program counter and instruction register, all the way to the CPU simulator.
- 9. Laboratory Experiments with Standard ICs and FPGAs. Standard chips run live with their pinouts, from the 7400 and 7474 to the 74LS283 and 74HC161.
- 10. Standard Graphic Symbols. digiwleea draws parts with IEEE-91 distinctive shapes; see logic gates explained for every symbol.
No sign-up is needed to start: open the lab and place your first transistor, or read the free theory course. The account (and the AI tutor) are optional.
More comparisons: Books, courses and projects
See for yourself: build a logic gate from transistors in the simulator, then follow the path from sand to an 8-bit CPU.
Open the digiwleea lab →Frequently asked
Is there an online simulator for Morris Mano's Digital Design?
The book's circuits are standard gates, adders, decoders, flip-flops, counters and memory, which you can build and try in any logic simulator. digiwleea runs in the browser with nothing to install and has many of them ready as live circuits, chapter by chapter.
What are the chapters of Mano's Digital Design?
In the 6th edition: Digital Systems and Binary Numbers; Boolean Algebra and Logic Gates; Gate-Level Minimization; Combinational Logic; Synchronous Sequential Logic; Registers and Counters; Memory and Programmable Logic; Design at the Register Transfer Level; Laboratory Experiments with Standard ICs and FPGAs; Standard Graphic Symbols.
How can I check my Karnaugh map answers from the book?
Enter the function's minterms (and don't cares) in a Karnaugh map solver: digiwleea's free solver shows the groups and the minimal sum of products and product of sums for 2 to 6 variables.
Is Digital Design by Mano good for beginners?
It is written for a first university course and starts from number systems, so a motivated beginner can follow it. Pairing it with hands-on circuits, such as digiwleea's free lessons and live simulations, makes the ideas easier to see.