Design of Digital Circuits and Computer Architecture

his class will be your first approach to Computer Architecture. You will study the design of digital circuits in order to:

• understand the basics,
  
• understand the principles (of design),
  
• understand the precedents.
  

Based on such understanding, you will:

• learn how a modern computer works underneath,
  
• evaluate tradeoffs of different designs and ideas,
  
• implement a principled design (a simple microprocessor),
  
• learn to systematically debug increasingly complex systems,
  
• hopefully develop novel, out-of-the-box designs.

The focus is on basics, principles, precedents, and how to use them to create/implement good designs.