An Undergraduate Processor Design Course with Hardware-Software Collaboration

Abstract

Microprocessors are critical to the information technology. Learning processor design is essential for undergraduate students of computer science and engineering related majors. It is challenging to teach undergraduate students processor design in a limited time. In this paper, we introduce our experience of teaching the processor design with hardware-software collaboration. In addition to hardware circuits, students also learn to design the assembler, loader, and simulator to form a close-loop design flow for processor design. With this hardware-software collaborative approach, the students can complete the course tasks and achieve the course goal more efficiently.