Programming for Hardware/Software Systems

(3-0-3-4)

CMPE Degree: This course is Required for the CMPE degree.

EE Degree: This course is Elective for the EE degree.

Lab Hours: 0 supervised lab hours and 3 unsupervised lab hours.

Course Coordinator: Linda M Wills

Prerequisites: ECE 2020 [min C]

Corequisites: None.

Catalog Description

Creation of complex execution and storage mechanisms, based on instruction set architecture, for software design including high-level programming languages and operating systems. Programming design projects.

Course Outcomes

  1. Develop a software design using appropriate data and procedural abstractions given an engineering problem specification
  2. Implement high-level programming language storage, control, and procedural constructs in the assembly language of a hardware platform.
  3. Use commonly available tools for software development, system management, debugging, performance monitoring, and optimization.
  4. Develop a software system that uses multiple files and libraries.
  5. Develop, test, and deploy reliable software using appropriate operating system capabilities (e.g., file and directory access, I/O interface).

Student Outcomes

In the parentheses for each Student Outcome:
"P" for primary indicates the outcome is a major focus of the entire course.
“M” for moderate indicates the outcome is the focus of at least one component of the course, but not majority of course material.
“LN” for “little to none” indicates that the course does not contribute significantly to this outcome.

1. ( P ) An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics

2. ( LN ) An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors

3. ( LN ) An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences

4. ( LN ) An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts

5. ( LN ) An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives

6. ( P ) An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions

7. ( M ) An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Strategic Performance Indicators (SPIs)

Not Applicable

Course Objectives

Topical Outline

1. Introduction to High Level Language and Assembly Programming

2. High Level Programming Language Syntax

3. Processing: ISA datapath and controller

4. Control: conditionals, iteration, recursion

5. Storage
a. static
b. stack
c. heap

6. Supporting Procedural Abstraction
a. procedure calling
b. activation frames

7. Supporting Data Abstraction
a. structs
b. arrays
c. linked lists
d. hash tables

8. Compilation, assembly, linking, loading, libraries

9. File Systems and I/O

10. Exception and Interrupt Handlers

11. Software Performance & Reliability
a. testing
b. debugging
c. performance monitoring

12. Embedded Software
a. interaction with the execution platform
b. energy efficiency

13. Basic Concurrency in Multicore Systems
a. data-level parallelism
b. support for atomicity

Optional Advanced Topics:

14. Dynamic typing

15. Automatic storage reclamation (garbage collection)

16. Security issues (e.g., software protection against buffer overflow or heap exploits)