• Logisim home page
• Guide to Being a Logisim User
  • Beginner's tutorial
    • Step 0: Orienting yourself
    • Step 1: Adding gates
    • Step 2: Adding wires
    • Step 3: Adding text
    • Step 4: Testing your circuit
  • Libraries and attributes
    • The explorer pane
    • The attribute table
    • Tool and component attributes
  • Subcircuits
    • Creating circuits
    • Using subcircuits
    • Debugging subcircuits
    • Logisim libraries
  • Wire bundles
    • Creating bundles
    • Splitters
    • Wire colors
  • Combinational analysis
    • Opening Combinational Analysis
    • Editing the truth table
    • Creating expressions
    • Generating a circuit
  • Menu reference
    • The File menu
    • The Edit menu
    • The Project menu
    • The Simulate menu
    • The Window and Help menus
  • Memory components
    • Poking memory
    • Pop-up menus and files
    • Hex editor
  • Logging
    • The Selection tab
    • The Table tab
    • The File tab
  • Application preferences
    • The Template tab
    • The Tools tab
    • The International tab
    • The Experimental tab
    • The command line
  • Project options
    • The Canvas tab
    • The Simulation tab
    • The Toolbar tab
    • The Mouse tab
  • Value propagation
    • Gate delays
    • Oscillation errors
    • Shortcomings
  • JAR libraries
    • Gray Code Incrementer
    • Library Class
    • Simple Gray Code Counter
    • Gray Code Counter
    • Guidelines
  • About the program
    • GNU General Public License
• Library Reference
  • Base library
    • Poke Tool
    • Edit Tool
    • Select Tool
    • Wiring Tool
    • Text Tool
    • Menu Tool
    • Splitter
    • Pin
    • Probe
    • Clock
    • Text
  • Gates library
    • Constant
    • NOT Gate
    • Buffer
    • AND/OR/NAND/NOR Gate
    • XOR/XNOR/Even/Odd Gate
    • Controlled Buffer/Inverter
  • Plexers library
    • Multiplexer
    • Demultiplexer
    • Decoder
    • Priority Encoder
    • Bit Selector
  • Arithmetic library
    • Adder
    • Subtractor
    • Multiplier
    • Divider
    • Negator
    • Comparator
    • Shifter
  • Memory library
    • D/T/J-K/S-R Flip-Flop
    • Register
    • Counter
    • Shift Register
    • Random
    • RAM
    • ROM
  • Input/Output library
    • Button
    • Joystick
    • Keyboard
    • LED
    • 7-Segment Display
    • Hex Digit Display
    • LED Matrix
    • TTY
  • Legacy library
    • Logisim 1.0 D/J-K Flip-Flop
    • Logisim 1.0 8-Bit Register

Subcircuits

As you build circuits that are more and more sophisticated, you will want to build smaller circuits that you can use multiple times as a module nested within larger circuits. In Logisim, such a smaller circuit that is used in a larger circuit is called a subcircuit.

If you're familiar with computer programming, you're familiar with the subprogram concept (called subroutines, functions, or methods in different languages). The subcircuit concept is analogous to the concept in computer programming, and it is used for the same purposes: To break a large job into bite-sized pieces, to save the effort of defining the same concept multiple times, and to facilitate debugging.

Creating circuits
Using subcircuits
Debugging subcircuits
Logisim libraries

Next: Creating circuits.