Welcome to EE 201!

Quick links: CanvasPiazzaGradescopeTextbook onlineVHDLweb problems

This is the home page for Tufts EE 201, Fundamentals of Computer Systems and Engineering.

For information about the spring 2024 offering of this course, see the about page.

Jump to current week

Week 0 (January 14)

Class is 1:30-2:45pm in Pearson 112. You don’t need to do anything before class, just show up!

Introduction (Thursday 1/18)

Read the syllabus
Sign up on Piazza (See email invite)

Numbers in binary

Just for fun

Week 2 (January 21)

Boolean equations, truth tables, and circuits (Tuesday 1/23)

Read Harris 1.5 (Logic gates)
Read Harris 2.1-2.2 (Boolean equations)
Complete reading check 1

Simplifying boolean equations (Thursday 1/25)

Sign up on Gradescope (see email invite)
Read Harris 2.3-2.7
Complete reading check 2

Possibly helpful

Week 3 (January 28)

Multiplexers and FPGAs (Tuesday 1/30)

Read Harris 2.8

Just for fun

What is an FPGA? (EEVblog) A thorough overview of FPGAs, how they work inside, and comparison with a microcontroller.

Timing combinational logic (Thursday 2/1)

Read Harris 2.9
Complete reading check 4

Possibly helpful

Assignments

Week 4 (February 4)

SystemVerilog for combinational logic (Tuesday 2/6)

Read Harris 4.1-4.2, 4.7.2
Complete reading check 5

Testing and testbenches (Thursday 2/8)

Read Harris 4.3, 4.9
Complete reading check 6

Structural modeling

Week 5 (February 11)

No class on Tuesday due to “snow” day

Latches and flip-flops (Thursday 2/15)

Read Harris 3.1-3.3
Complete reading check 7

Possibly helpful

From D-latch to D-flip-flop (Ben Eater) (This is a different way to build a D flip-flop than what the book describes, which might help you better understand what it does.)

Week 6 (February 18)

Describing sequential logic with SystemVerilog (Tuesday 2/20)

Read Harris 4.4-4.5, 5.4
Complete reading check 8

Just for fun

How does a PS/2 keyboard work? (Ben Eater) (Watch the first half to see a cool use of a shift register)

No class on Thursday; Monday schedule to holiday

Week 7 (February 25)

More practice with sequential logic (Tuesday 2/27)

Homework 2 (Solutions), due 3/7

State machines (Thursday 2/29)

Read Harris 3.4, 4.6
Complete reading check 9
Introduction to state machines (Intermation) Detailed explanation of what “state” is, with a walkthrough of the traffic light example from start to finish.

Week 8 (March 3)

Moore on state machines (Tuesday 3/5)

Timing sequential logic (Thursday 3/7)

Read Harris 3.5
Complete reading check 10

Week 9 (March 10)

Memory wrap-up, review for exam (Tuesday 3/12)

Exam 1 (Thursday 3/14)

Spring break (March 17)

Week 10 (March 24)

Introduction to RISC-V (Tuesday 3/25)

RISC-V memory operations (Thursday 3/27)