WEB SITE FOR SEQUENTIAL LOGIC CIRCUITS, CS E6831 FALL 2004

• WHAT IS THIS COURSE ABOUT?
  
  
• INSTRUCTOR
  
  
• TA ***Note change in office hours
  
  
• COURSE CREDITS: 3
  
  
• PREREQUISITE: CS W3823, EE E3901, or some other introduction to logic circuits.
  
  
• TIME OF LECTURES: We 4:10-6:00
  
  
• ROOM: 415 Schapiro
  
  
• CALL NUMBER: 43154
  
  
• TEXTBOOK: Unger, The Essence of Logic Circuits, Second Edition, IEEE Press, 1997, (Available in Papyrus Bookstore.) Other material will be distributed.
  
  
• NOTES ON FLOW TABLE SPLITTING
  
  
• NOTES ON CLOSED COVERS
  
  
• NOTES ON Armstrong state assignment method
  
  
• NOTES ON STRONG CONNECTIVITY.
  
  
• NOTES ON PARTITIONS, ETC.
  
  
• Part-2 NOTES ON PARTITIONS, ETC.
  
  
• ***HAZARDS PAPER
  
  
• HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS. ***HW #12 Posted
  
  
• HOMEWORK SOLUTIONS ***HW #12 solutions posted
  
  
• ABOUT EXAMS:
  
  
• MIDTERM EXAM STATISTICS: Range:68-94, Average: 83, Median: 84, SD: 10.
• ***MIDTERM EXAM SOLUTIONS
  
  
• WHY ATTEND LECTURES?
  
  

This course is about logic circuits with memory. That is, circuits whose current outputs depend on, not only the present, but also on past inputs. This category includes the storage elements used in computer registers, as well as control circuits that govern the operations of a computer's arithmetic units and its I/O devices. The most general category of sequential circuits are termed "asynchronous", while an important subclass are the synchronous, or clocked circuits. Both are treated in the course. Various synthesis methods are described that lead to efficient, fast, and reliable circuits; trade-offs among these features are made clear. Obstacles to correct operation in the form of hazards and races are defined and methods for overcoming them are presented. An important part of the course deals with self-timed systems, an approach that is being developed to eliminate the growing difficulties that modern technology presents to clocked systems.

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Course Instructor: Professor Stephen H. Unger

• Office: 505 Computer Science Building
• Phone: 212-939-7053. (Leave messages at the department office, 212-939-7000)
• email: unger@cs.columbia.edu
• Office Hours: We 1:30- 2:30, Th 5:00-6:00. I am in my office most of the time Tu-Th, 9:30-6:30

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Teaching Assistant

Bhagyashree M. Bohra
• Office: TA room
• email: bn111@columbia.edu
• Office Hours: Thursday, 9:00-11:00 am

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Homework Policy

• There will be weekly homework assignments, but homework will NOT be collected or graded.
• Homework solutions will be posted about a week after being assigned.

• Both exams are closed book, and no calculators may be used.
• Midterm exam: 10/20 full session
• Final exam: Wed., 12/22, 4:10-7:00, Schapiro 415. (Cumulative, with emphasis on post midterm exam work.)

Reading the relevant parts of the text and doing the homework is essential in order to understand the subject matter of the course. But everything will be much harder if you skip lectures. Asking questions at lectures, making comments, and hearing the questions and comments of classmates, along with the responses, deepens your understanding and gets you past difficult points much more easily. Students who skip lectures soon start to fall behind and then have difficulty in catching up, because of the connections between the topics. Examples used in the lectures are generally different from those in the text, and often explanations given in class are more detailed. Material not in the text is sometimes introduced in lectures (but also note that not everything in the text is included in lectures.)

MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Computer Science E6831

TIME:  100 minutes

Instructions

1. Write your name NOW on this sheet.  Check to see that all 7
problems are in your set.
2. Do all 7 problems, working on the question sheets;  use the backs
of previous pages for scrapwork.
3. Show all work, including brief  explanations where appropriate.
Don't do more than you are asked to do
4. Write legibly and clearly label your answers.  
5. No books, notes, or calculators are to be used.
6. Do not write in red.  Use a pencil, not a pen--unless you never -->
--make mistakes.
7. Read each question carefully before answering it.  Allocate your
time intelligently:  Solve the problems that seem easy before
attacking the harder ones.