This book is intended for an introductory course in digital logic design, which is a basic course in most electrical and computer engineering programs. A successful designer of digital logic circuits needs a good understanding of basic concepts and a firm grasp of computer-aided design (CAD) tools. The purpose of our book is to provide the desirable balance between teaching the basic concepts and practical application through CAD tools. To facilitate the learning process, the necessary CAD software is included as an integral part of the book package.

The main goals of the book are (1) to teach students the fundamental concepts in classical manual digital design and (2) illustrate clearly the way in which digital circuits are designed today, using CAD tools. Even though modern designers no longer use manual techniques, except in rare circumstances, our motivation for teaching such techniques is to give students an intuitive feeling for how digital circuits operate. Also, the manual techniques provide an illustration of the types of manipulations performed by CAD tools, giving students an appreciation of the benefits provided by design automation. Throughout the book, basic concepts are introduced by way of examples that involve simple circuit designs, which we perform using both manual techniques and modern CAD-tool-based methods. Having established the basic concepts, more complex examples are then provided, using the CAD tools. Thus our emphasis is on modern design methodology to illustrate how digital design is carried out in practice today.