Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

General goals: Design methodologies for combinational and sequential circuits, and an understanding of the principles used to design modern computers. In particular, the course covers the internal structure of the microprocessor and the ideas that have enabled the extraordinary evolution of computing power over the past 30 years, such as pipelining, caching, branch prediction, and multiprocessing. Specific goals: Binary encoding of various data types, Boolean algebra, analysis and synthesis of combinational circuits, flip-flops, analysis and synthesis of sequential circuits, registers, and interconnection between registers and other modules. The course also covers the basic principles of microprocessor organization, including concepts such as pipelining, caching, branch prediction, virtualization, and multiprocessing. Additionally, the course addresses assembly programming. Knowledge and understanding: To understand how a computer manages and processes information. In addition, the student will gain knowledge of the organization of the MIPS microprocessor, as an implementation of the general concepts covered in the course objectives. The student will also acquire an understanding of how assembly programs are structured, including data structures, standard programming paradigms, and recursion. Application of knowledge and understanding: Demonstrate the ability to design simple combinational and sequential circuits capable of performing specific tasks. Furthermore, students will apply their knowledge to the MIPS architecture, understanding how programming choices affect program performance on specific hardware. This outcome is achieved through programming exercises and performance evaluation. Critiquing and judgmental skills: Be able to choose the most appropriate approach, among those studied, to solve a given task. In addition, the student will be able to understand performance-related issues of software on specific hardware and independently assess its characteristics. Communication skills: Be able to evaluate and justify design choices in circuit development. Develop the ability to present technical topics in a rigorous and structured manner. Learning ability: Understand the differences and advantages of various design techniques. In addition, the course provides the foundation for understanding modules in Operating Systems and all programming courses, including parallel systems programming.