Note: I've just migrated to a different physical server to run Spivey's Corner,
with a new architecture, a new operating system, a new version of PHP, and an updated version of MediaWiki.
Please let me know if anything needs adjustment! – Mike

Digital Systems: Difference between revisions

Copyright © 2017–2023 J. M. Spivey
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
Line 9: Line 9:
===Hilary Term===
===Hilary Term===
====Lectures====
====Lectures====
All in Lecture Theatre B:
* 16 lectures: TBA.
* Mondays, 10.0 am, weeks 2–8.
* Tuesdays, 10.0 am, weeks 1–8.
* Friday, 11.0 am, week 1.
The lecturer will be unavoidably detained on Monday of First Week, so lectures that week will be on Tuesday and Friday.


<b>Although some elements of the lectures will be automatically recorded, the dynamic blend of slides, calculations on the whiteboard, software demonstrations, computer hardware shown via live video and online instrumentation, and problems solved by the lecturer and class working together means that not all elements will be captured, and the recordings may therefore be almost useless.  In addition, the content of each lecture may change in response to questions from the audience.  Participants who cannot attend lectures in person may find it best to follow the course by reading the extensive [[lecture notes]] available on this site, together with copies of the slides, and joining the weekly consultation sessions.</b>
<b>Although some elements of the lectures will be automatically recorded, the dynamic blend of slides, calculations on the whiteboard, software demonstrations, computer hardware shown via live video and online instrumentation, and problems solved by the lecturer and class working together means that not all elements will be captured, and the recordings may therefore be almost useless.  In addition, the content of each lecture may change in response to questions from the audience.  Participants who cannot attend lectures in person may find it best to follow the course by reading the extensive [[lecture notes]] available on this site, together with copies of the slides, and joining the weekly consultation sessions.</b>
Line 20: Line 16:
In the Thom Building, Department of Engineering Science.  In addition to the official lab times noted above, the lecturer will be available at the same time and in the same place in weeks 3 and 4 to help those who want to get an early start with assembly language programming.
In the Thom Building, Department of Engineering Science.  In addition to the official lab times noted above, the lecturer will be available at the same time and in the same place in weeks 3 and 4 to help those who want to get an early start with assembly language programming.


* Informal sessions -- Thursdays, 3.0&thinsp;pm &ndash; later, weeks 3 and 4.
* Informal sessions: TBA, weeks 3 and 4.
* Official sessions -- Thursdays, 3.0&ndash;5.0&thinsp;pm, weeks 5&ndash;8.
* Official sessions: TBA, weeks 5&ndash;8.
 
====Consultation sessions====
The lecturer will be available online to answer questions at set weekly times:
* Mondays, 2.0&ndash;3.0&thinsp;pm, weeks 2&ndash;8.  [[Oxford:Consultation sessions|Joining link]] (requires login).
These sessions are organised for the benefit of participants who are self-isolating or have been prevented from returning to Oxford, but others are welcome to join also.


===Trinity Term===
===Trinity Term===
====Lectures====
====Lectures====
* Thursdays and Fridays, 11.0&thinsp;am, weeks 1&ndash;4 in Lecture Theatre B
* 8 lectures, TBA.
====Revision classes====
There are signs many participants would benefit from another look at programming with interrupts and with an embedded operating system, so that is where we will start.  In the second class, we will touch on the important topics of addressing in assembly language, the design of complex combinational circuits, and datapath architecture.
* Thursday 11.0&thinsp;am, week 5 in Lecture Theatre B. ''We will cover questions 9, 10, and 13 from the selection of {{Doc|digisys|revision|revision questions}}.''
* Friday 1.0&thinsp;pm, week 5 in Lecture Theatre B. ''Further questions from the selection, including questions 2, 15, and 18.''


==Resources==
==Resources==

Revision as of 11:23, 15 August 2022

The micro:bit (or electronic teabag[1])

This is a course about how computers work, from logic gates and latches at the bottom, to concurrent processes at the top (running under a simple operating system), with time spent on machine-level programming in the middle. For an easy start, we will begin in the middle with small programs written in machine code.

  • In Hilary Term, we will study low-level programming with the help of a tiny computer, the BBC micro:bit, which includes an ARM-based microcontroller as its processor. Starting in assembly language and moving on to C, we will learn about the instructions that make up machine code, including arithmetic, branching, memory access, and subroutines. We will also (vitally for embedded systems) learn about controlling I/O devices, such as the buttons and lights on the micro:bit and the serial interface that allows it to talk to a host computer. Once a program reaches a certain degree of complexity, it is no longer sufficient to wait in a tight loop for an event to happen, and we will study the hardware and software aspects of solutions to this problem: using interrupts to respond to external events, and an operating system to structure the program as a family of concurrent processes, each responsible for one part of the task.
  • In Trinity Term, we will study the elements of computer hardware, building up from gates and latches to architectural elements such as registers, adders and decoders, and finally a paper model of a processor able to execute a selection of ARM instructions, supported by an architectural simulator.

Schedule

Hilary Term

Lectures

  • 16 lectures: TBA.

Although some elements of the lectures will be automatically recorded, the dynamic blend of slides, calculations on the whiteboard, software demonstrations, computer hardware shown via live video and online instrumentation, and problems solved by the lecturer and class working together means that not all elements will be captured, and the recordings may therefore be almost useless. In addition, the content of each lecture may change in response to questions from the audience. Participants who cannot attend lectures in person may find it best to follow the course by reading the extensive lecture notes available on this site, together with copies of the slides, and joining the weekly consultation sessions.

Lab sessions

In the Thom Building, Department of Engineering Science. In addition to the official lab times noted above, the lecturer will be available at the same time and in the same place in weeks 3 and 4 to help those who want to get an early start with assembly language programming.

  • Informal sessions: TBA, weeks 3 and 4.
  • Official sessions: TBA, weeks 5–8.

Trinity Term

Lectures

  • 8 lectures, TBA.

Resources

Information about the course is provided on several other pages.

And last of all:

  • There's a website for my book Bare Metal micro:bit, containing expanded versions of the lab materials for the course, with explanations appended.

Miscellaneous

Links



  1. So called because the board dangles from its USB cable like a teabag dangling from its string.