List of core computing topics for EEs/CompEs

Computing

Programming

• Programming in a practically usable language (e.g., C (or Python?)) (CC)
• Debugging strategies and skills (CC)
• Turning equations into code (CC)
• Variables, arrays, indices, pointers, conditionals, loops (CC)
• Functions/subroutines/methods, parameters (CC)
• Structured/modular programming and basic principles of software design (CC)
• Recognizing parallelism in algorithms (CC)
• Compilation vs assembly (CC)
• Fundamental numerical methods (CC)
• Object-oriented programming concept (CC)

Digital hardware

• Digital combinatorial logic, standard gates and digital structures (CC)
• Key MSI units (e.g., multiplexers, memory, registers, adders) (CC)
• Basic logic synthesis (Karnaugh maps [brief]) (CC)
• Sequential logic and clocked logic (CC)
• State machine (CC)
• Physical representations of 1s and 0s (voltages, magnetic, optical, spin states, qubits) (CC)
• Transistors used as switches make basic CMOS gates, 6T SRAM, 1T+1C DRAM (CC)
• Gate delay, rise time, critical path (CC)
• Concept of a glitch (CC AC)
• Basic digital logic circuit parameters/models (capacitance, channel resistance determine gate delay) (CC AC)
• Programmable logic/FPGAs (CC AC)
• Hands-on digital circuit experience (power and ground, timing) (CC)
• Hardware description language exposure (e.g. Verilog, VHDL, or RTL) (CC AC)
• Analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion (CC)

Architecture

• Basic elements of a computer architecture (ALU, PC, registers, memory, busses, sequencer, I/O) (dlj)
• Memory hierarchy, cache (dlj)
• von-Neumann architecture (dlj)
• Hardware interrupts, polling (dlj)
• Pipelining concept and purpose (dlj)
• Pipeline design (dlj AC-EE, core-CompE)
• Harvard architecture (dlj AC)
• Out-of-order execution (dlj AC)
• Speculative execution (dlj AC)
• Superscalar/VLIW (dlj AC)
• Vector processor (dlj AC)
• Multi-core (dlj AC)
• Cache/memory management and tradeoffs (dlj AC)

Software/hardware interface

• How binary object code controls architecture and executes program on hardware (instruction fetch, decode; operand addressing and fetch; ALU operation; data store (dlj)
• Physical addresses; direct, indirect and offset addressing (dlj)
• I/O software interface (interrupts, how hardware signal triggers software action) (dlj)
• Driver design (dlj AC-EE, core-CompE)
• Stack and stack-based programming (dlj)
• Cartoon understanding of compilation and compiled vs assembly code (dlj)
• Operating systems
  • Cartoon view of what an OS does (scheduling, multitasking, I/O, interrupts (dlj)
  • Time virtualization (time slices, multiple threads on sequential machine) (dlj AC-EE, core Comp E)
  • Memory virtualization and memory hierarchy management (dlj core-CompE)
  • Threads and thread management (dlj core-CompE)
  • Multi-core issues (dlj core-CompE)
  • Real-time OS issues (dlj AC-EE, core-CompE)

Computational theory

• Automata theory (nv)
• Turing machine (knowing the term and what it applies to, not deep) (nv)

Networking

• Cartoon understanding of IP (CC)
• Cartoon description of TCP (CC)
• Concept of IP address and cartoon view of what a router does (CC)
• Cartoon view of how the internet works (CC)
• Know what a MAC is and does (CC)

Applications

• Numerical methods and techniques (CC)
• Application languages (e.g., Matlab) (CC)

Considered and rejected as not core

• Familiarity with CAD tools, simulation (/CC)
• Recursion (/CC) (But perhaps needed for access to advanced CS courses)
• Concept of thread (/CC)
• SR, D flip-flops and latches (/CC)