Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
University of Wisconsin - Madison
ECE/Comp Sci
352 Digital System Fundamentals
COURSE
CONDUCT
Fall Semester 2001-2002
Last Updated: September 1, 2001
The text for the course is the Second Edition or Second Edition Updated of Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals by M. M. Mano and C. R. Kime. In addition, there is a packet of required course materials to be purchased at Bob's Copy Shop.
You are responsible for all assigned sections in the text and course materials and all lecture content unless specified otherwise by the instructor. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to obtain handouts and other information given on the days you missed. Handouts are often available on your section's website.
Use of the Computer-Aided Engineering Center (CAE)
There will be a project requiring the use of two Mentor Graphics computer-aided design (CAD) tools, Design Architect and QuickSim. These tools run on UNIX workstations located in Room 175, Computer-Aided Engineering, 1410 Engineering Drive (across the street from the Engineering Hall). Additional 24-hour access UNIX workstations sites are located in Rooms B555 Engineering Hall (in the northwest corner of the basement - outside access from the northwest door of the building) as well as at other locations on the Engineering campus (get a map at CAE or see CAE website).
Brief introductory sessions to CAE Unix systems are offered by CAE early in the semester. You should attend a session if you have not used CAE or UNIX systems before. See announcements at CAE for further information; we will also try to provide some info on these sessions in class. You must execute newuser procedures on a Unix workstation at a CAE site early in the semester so that you are ready for the tutorial and assignments.
Another CAD tool we will be using in this course, CAFE runs on both Unix and NT workstations at CAE. The CAFE manual is include in the packet of course materials at Bob's Copy Shop; in addition, a self-instruction tutorial for CAFE will be posted on the section websites.
Early in the semester, we will run mandatory tutorial sessions on weekday afternoons/evenings and Saturday mornings on Design Architect and QuickSim. You will need to sign up for a particular tutorial session on sign-up sheets passed around in class.
There are two types of assignments in this course: homework assignments and projects. Homework assignments will be given bi-weekly, and need not be submitted. The purpose is to help you learn the materials studied during this period. Homework solutions will be made available on the ECE/CS 352 section websites. You are encouraged to discuss homework with your classmates, but to do the work yourself to best prepare you for the quizzes, projects, and the final. To maximize the benefit, try to work out the problems without checking the solutions first.
There are two projects that require you to use computer-aided design (CAD) tools. These projects are to be submitted and will be graded. The purpose of projects is to ensure that you develop the basic knowledge and skills in using modern CAD tools for digital system analysis and design. The first project is an individual project. Students are to do their own work but may consult with others on problem clarification and CAD tool use. The second project is a team project performed by a team of two persons and is not to involve collaboration with other teams beyond problem clarification and CAD tool use. You will be given instruction on how to share Mentor files between two users on CAE UNIX workstations.
There are Help Sessions available B555 Engineering Hall the week before the project due date. To be guaranteed a workstation during a help session, prior sign-up is necessary and sign-up is permitted for only one help session for each project. Unclaimed workstations will be available for project work on a first come-first serve basis 20 minutes after the beginning of a help session.
There are four quizzes and one final examination in this course. The quizzes and final are closed book examinations with no calculators or other personal computation devices allowed. The dates for these quizzes and the final exam are listed on the course outline. Quizzes will be held during the evening (7:15-8:30 PM) in the rooms specified on the Course Outline. It is your responsibility to attend all quizzes. Missing a quiz is equivalent to forfeiting a large part of your grade. If you miss a quiz, no make-up quiz will be given. Only in most extraordinary situations will a make-up quiz be given, provided the request is made prior to the quiz, and any documentation requested that substantiates the reasons for missing the quiz is provided.
Questions regarding the grading of quizzes must be written on the cover of the quiz and returned to the instructor for reconsideration on the same day the quiz is returned to the student.
Please note the time of the Final Exam on the Course Outline and do not, for example, schedule travel that will not permit you to take the Final at that time. Conflict with your travel schedule is not an acceptable excuse for requesting an alternate final exam. Early makeup finals will not be given.
The course grade will be determined as listed in the course description.
Optional Discussion Sessions: Teaching assistants will conduct optional discussion sessions - you may attend any of these sessions except for the quiz review sessions during the week of a quiz. Discussion session 301 on Wednesday will be in sync with Lecture 1 (Prof. Shohet) and Discussion 302 on Tuesday with by in sync with Lecture 2 (Prof. Kime). The 301 quiz review session on Wednesday is for students in Section 1 (Prof. Shohet) and the 302 quiz review session on Tuesday is for students in Section 2 (Prof. Kime). The 303 session on Thursday will not be a quiz review, but is for students having last minute questions or unable to attend one of the other sessions (seating is limited).
Office Hours: If you have questions on the course material, you may contact your instructor or any teaching assistant for consultation during office hours. All TA office hours will be in 3610 Engineering Hall.
E-Mail: For technical questions, you are to e-mail the teaching assistant assigned to answer questions for your section during a particular week. Use the link for the designated TA indicated on your instructor's homepage. For administrative questions, e-mail your section's instructor.
Please try to get answers before serious difficulties in your understanding of course material arise. In particular, it is much better to get your questions answered before a quiz rather than after!
If you require special alternative testing arrangements, you need to seek consultation from the McBurney Center (http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/mcb/). Then you should bring the written recommendation by a counselor with the McBurney center to the instructor within three weeks after semester begins so that appropriate adjustment can be made.
In case you have problem keeping up with the progress of this course, please talk to your instructor. If you have problems in keeping up with several courses, you may want to talk with your advisor or with a counselor in College of Engineering or College of Letters and Science.
Please understand that all the work you submit in the course on projects and
exams is expected to be your own (except for work by the other team member on
Project 2). Evidence indicating copying or inappropriate collaboration as well
as other forms of academic misconduct will be dealt with as appropriate under
the UW academic misconduct rules. If you have questions, please refer to http://www.wisc.edu/students/amsum.htm
or seek clarification from your instructor.