Showing papers presented at "Workshop On Computer Architecture Education in 1995"

CPU design kit: an instructional prototyping platform for teaching processor design

Abstract: The CPU Design Kit is a prototyping platform designed at University of California, Santa Cruz, for teaching the Processor Design class. The prototyping platform allows the design and implementation of a 32-bit pipelined CPU. The prototyping hardware consists of an ISA-bus-based printed-circuit board containing six Altera FLEX EPF81500 programmable logic chips providing a total of 80,000 usable gates, static RAM chips to implement register file and caches, and hardware support for monitoring and debugging. A Windows-based user interface provides access to the necessary software tools for downloading designs into the board, debugging, and control of the CPU.

A database of course materials in computer architecture

Abstract: Teaching computer architecture, like any course at the college level, requires the instructor to spend much time in preparation outside class This time is spent in writing lectures, making up homework problems and labs, and devising and grading exams This involves much duplication of effort, since the same problems and labs are, in principle, usable in courses at different universities Although a small amount of sharing has gone on an ad hoc basis, until now, there has been no way to search for and retrieve a very wide variety of course materialsInstructors teaching computer architecture have been surveyed, and several dozen have expressed interest in participating in this project Contributors to the database will be asked to supply a pathname(s) for the location of their course materials For security's sake, problem solutions will be kept in encrypted archives The unencrypted portion of the database will be managed very similar to the technical-report databases now available for browsing over the World-Wide Web It will be possible to search for problems, lectures, or other material, containing arbitrary keywords The encrypted portion of the database will require new interfaces, or possibly new browser software to be written Development of this database will encourage reuse, and aid in improving the quality of courses and decreasing the time required to teach them well

Use of architectural simulation tools in education

Abstract: This paper presents the author's experience in using architectural simulation tools in the instruction of computer architecture courses. In particular, we develop the notion of incrementally building a programmable, trace--driven "timer" tool, for use as a learning vehicle. We show how the cycle--by--cycle simulation output of such timers can be used to illustrate performance bottlenecks, and how this and other output statistics can be interpreted to convey key design tuning issues. As part of the overall simulation toolkit, we also use available cache simulators, trace generators and other utilities in illustrating key performance determinants and architectural trade--off issues.

Tradition and change: what should we be teaching in computer architecture?

Abstract: The structure of computers has been taught for almost 30 years. During that time there have been many changes both in industry and academia. Even amidst all this changed there have been certain in variant challenges to educators. By taking a historical perspective, this paper identifies some of those invariance. The paper concludes with an example of a possible computer architecture course based upon interdisciplinary design that combines both educational and research experiences.

Combining object-oriented design and computer architecture into a single senior-level course

Abstract: Undergraduate computer architecture course work typically covers some standard topics, including pipelining, memory hierarchy design and their relationship to performance. While there are a number of available tools that can be used to exercise the functionality of these concepts, students will many times only learn how to use the tool and will not gain an appreciation for the underlying technology or design.To insure that students understand many of the design tradeoffs encountered with computer design and computer architecture, they can construct software models of these designs. The students must have a very clear understanding of the design for them to be able to model it correctly. By developing a model, they gain insight into the real tradeoffs associated with the design of such features.To insure that students are able to develop well-structured, reusable simulation models, they must also have sufficient background in formal programming methods. Object-oriented design provides this structure and C++ provides a reasonable implementation language for developing object-oriented simulation models.This paper describes a senior-level course offered in the ECE department at Northeastern University that encompasses both of these subjects. As a final project for this course the students must construct a simulation model of some architectural feature. This paper describes the motivation for this course, and the associated course work.

Components of a computer architecture education

Abstract: Computer Architecture, if it is a science, is a science of tradeoffs. Thus, the more cases (computer designs) we examine and the more we understand about the components of a particular case, the better we can make those trade-offs. The reality, of course, is that computer architecture is not a science at all, but rather a, craft. This paper explores some of the training that is essential in developing the capability of the craftsman.

A simulated system for teaching computer architecture

Abstract: The evolution of computers has led to the current generation of powerful, RISC-based workstations. These systems are often rich of interesting architectural features and peripheral devices. Very often, they also run multitasking, multiuser operating systems which make almost complete use of the available hardware.This makes it very hard to use these systems for the lab classes of a computer architecture course, to show how to deal with peripherals and mechanisms such as interrupt and memory protection. In fact, working on these subjects almost unavoidably means breaking, thus loosing, a lot of the support provided by the operating system, not to mention the possibility of wiping out data from the storage devices.In order to overcome these difficulties, and to be able to support the teaching of computer architecture with significant experiments in a controlled environment, we have developed a simulated computer system running under Unix. The simulated system consists of CPU, memory and its peripherals, and has a complete interrupt mechanism which permits the study of advanced techniques for peripheral management and other operating system's issues. The simulator runs on a variety of Unix platforms, both with and without a windowing system. The paper describes the architecture of the system and shows some examples of its use.

Modeling and measuring software engineering course software process

Abstract: This paper is about software engineering teaching experiences, held at both University of Pisa and Polytechnic of Torino. We have defined a software process model that prescribes activity, document, tool, role, and metric issues. Following this process, students learn software engineering practices in a realistic working context.

A VHDL conversion tool for logic equations with embedded D latches

Abstract: Logic equations are one way of modeling combinational digital hardware. Pass transistors in MOS circuits loaded with a logic gate often behave as a D latch. In reverse engineering the 6502 microprocessor, it was discovered that, except for bi-directional pass transistors, the pass transistors could be modeled by D latches. In general, pass transistors are embedded along with logic gates. A hardware description language for logic equations with embedded D latches, called DSH, is described. In order to simulate these equations in VHDL, a DSH to VHDL translator was written. Finally, examples from the 6502 microprocessor are given.

DYRECT: a dynamic reconfiguration tool for multicomputer systems

Abstract: In this paper we discuss the design and implementation of a tool to teach dynamic reconfiguration of multicomputer systems. DYRECT is a graphical tool used to visualize and analyze various topologies like stars, cubes, meshes, trees, and rings. Various existing reconfiguration algorithms have been incorporated as a part of DYRECT's reconfiguration library. This tool allows the user to interactively design new reconfiguration algorithms. DYRECT has been implemented on PC-DOS machines running Microsoft Windows.