Course Information

Charles Babbage's Difference Engine

Charles Babbage's calculating engines are among the most celebrated icons in the prehistory of computing. His Difference Engine, built in 1832, was the first successful automatic calculator and remains one of the finest examples of precision engineering of the time.

Professor: Dr. Doran Wilde

Class Time: MWF 2:00 - 2:50 PM, 406 CB

Textbook: Digital Arithmetic, Milos D. Ercegovac and Tomas Lang, Morgan Kaufmann, 2004. Book related resources

Summary:
Computer arithmetic deals with algorithms to compute arithmetic functions that are suitable for hardware implementation.  Computer arithmetic is fundamental to computer processor architecture. Arithmetic algorithms can also be implemented in firmware or software. A major focus of computer arithmetic is the development of high-speed arithmetic algorithms, design of application specific circuits to enhance the speed of numerical applications, and understanding their implementation in digital logic.

Topics:
Arithmetic unit design, arithmetic circuit implementation, architectural and algorithmic speedup techniques for high speed arithmetic, number representations, basic arithmetic operations, floating-point arithmetic, and function evaluation methods.

Prerequisites: ECEn 320, C or C++ Programming, VHDL

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