A multi-disciplinary approach for digital systems design curricula

ABSTRACT

Historically, Digital Systems Design curricula have focused principally on the hardware design aspects of systems development. At Arizona State University, we have expanded our Digital Systems Design program to include aspects of computer architecture, assembly language programming, and operating systems fundamentals, as well. We feel that this larger focus provides the students with a comprehensive understanding of the overall system development process. In this paper, we discuss our philosophy and examine a course sequence that incorporates this multi-disciplinary approach.

REFERENCES

• Cain: Cain, J. T., Langdon, Jr., G. G., Varanasi, M. R., "The IEEE Computer Society Model Program in Computer Science and Engineering," Computer, Volume 17, Number 4, April, 1984.
• Ford: Gary Ford, The SEI undergraduate curriculum in software engineering, Proceedings of the twenty-second SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education, p.375-385, March 07-08, 1991, San Antonio, Texas, United States
• Pheanis: Pheanis, David C. and Welch, Louis E. III, "Galaxy: Review of a Software Project," Phoenix Conference on Computers and Communications, Proceedings, Phoenix, Arizona, April, 1986.
• Woodfill: Woodfill, Marvin C., and Neumann, William T., "A MicroProcessor-Based Development System for Digital System Design Education," Proceedings of the Southeastcon'88, Knoxville, Tennessee, April, 1988.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS

Additional Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.6 LOGIC DESIGN

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Curriculum; Computer science education

General Terms:
Design