  Understanding computer system hardware, including how computers operate, is
essential for undergraduate students in computer engineering and science.
Literature shows students learning computer organization and assembly language
often find fundamental concepts difficult to comprehend within the topic
materials. Tools have been introduced to improve students comprehension of the
interaction between computer architecture, assembly language, and the operating
system. One such tool is the Little Man Computer (LMC) model that operates in a
way similar to a computer but that is easier to understand. Even though LMC
does not have modern CPUs with multiple cores nor executes multiple
instructions, it nevertheless shows the basic principles of the von Neumann
architecture. LMC aims to introduce students to such concepts as code and
instruction sets. In this paper, LMC is used for an additional purpose: a tool
with which to experiment using a new modeling language (i.e., a thinging
machine; TM) in the area of computer organization and architecture without
involving complexity in the subject. That is, the simplicity of LMC facilitates
the application of TM without going deep into computer
organization/architecture materials. Accordingly, the paper (a) provides a new
way for using the LMC model for whatever purpose (e.g., education) and (b)
demonstrates that TM can be used to build an abstract level of description in
the organization/architect field. The resultant schematics from the TM model of
LMC offer an initial case study that supports our thesis that TM is a viable
method for hardware/software-independent descriptions in the computer
organization and architect field of study.
