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Indeed, because this isn't the subject matter of CS, it's the subject matter of EE. Learning Verilog isn't like learning another programming language - it's an

Indeed, because this isn't the subject matter of CS, it's the subject matter of EE. Learning Verilog isn't like learning another programming language - it's an entirely different (though related) field of endeavor.

kuschku 11y ago
Well, it is the subject matter of technical CS. Which means it’s also part of what many universities teach in CS. We have a mandatory course for all CS students at my university where we have to design a full DLX processor in VHDL and run it on a simulator. Just so we can understand how these things work. So, the average CS graduate from the uni where I am should be able to do this. And this is just a normal university, I’d expect that the universities with better reputation are doing this on a completely different level even.
- nickpsecurity 11y ago
  Certainly some of it can be done by regular, CompSci students. Yet, doing a DLX processor in VHDL on a simulator is not the same as implementing a CPU & graphics card on FPGA, integrating them, and especially doing a PCB. There's quite a jump there in necessary skills. Btw, you're the first person I've seen mention DLX in a while. Feel free to pass this along to any you still know teaching that or working with it as they might find it interesting. It's a mathematically-verified, DLX processor from Verisoft project that's languishing in obscurity (that I'm aware of) rather than being exploited (or cloned) for its benefits: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.217.2251 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.217.... http://www.verisoft.de/PublicationPage.html http://www.verisoft.de/PublicationPage.html Minor modifications like crash-safe.org for security with a RISC-V decoder in front & ChipKill ECC might make one, badass CPU in embedded use. Probably good for learning & OSS HW tweaking, too.
danbruc 11y ago
That probably varies from country to country or even university to university, but we did quite a bit of hardware stuff - from simple 7400 series stuff and op-amps, over PALs and CPLDs to simple processors on FPGAs and dimensioning circuits for ASIC fabrication processes.
toomanythings2 11y ago
Apparently it is different in other countries but I agree with you. This is something done by an EE, not a CS person in the US.
pjmlp 11y ago
In Portugal there isn't a CS degree as known in US. It is usually called Software Engineering in Informatics or something similar. In the universities where you have computing and EE degrees, you are free to mix and match computing and EE lectures for the optional credits that you need on top of the compulsory ones. Personally I just did some stuff of digital design and ended up spending the rest in systems and graphics programming. But other others were focusing in EE lectures, for example.

kuschku 11y ago

Well, it is the subject matter of technical CS. Which means it’s also part of what many universities teach in CS. We have a mandatory course for all CS students at my university where we have to design a full DLX processor in VHDL and run it on a simulator. Just so we can understand how these things work. So, the average CS graduate from the uni where I am should be able to do this. And this is just a normal university, I’d expect that the universities with better reputation are doing this on a completely different level even.

nickpsecurity 11y ago
Certainly some of it can be done by regular, CompSci students. Yet, doing a DLX processor in VHDL on a simulator is not the same as implementing a CPU & graphics card on FPGA, integrating them, and especially doing a PCB. There's quite a jump there in necessary skills. Btw, you're the first person I've seen mention DLX in a while. Feel free to pass this along to any you still know teaching that or working with it as they might find it interesting. It's a mathematically-verified, DLX processor from Verisoft project that's languishing in obscurity (that I'm aware of) rather than being exploited (or cloned) for its benefits: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.217.2251 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.217.... http://www.verisoft.de/PublicationPage.html http://www.verisoft.de/PublicationPage.html Minor modifications like crash-safe.org for security with a RISC-V decoder in front & ChipKill ECC might make one, badass CPU in embedded use. Probably good for learning & OSS HW tweaking, too.

danbruc 11y ago

That probably varies from country to country or even university to university, but we did quite a bit of hardware stuff - from simple 7400 series stuff and op-amps, over PALs and CPLDs to simple processors on FPGAs and dimensioning circuits for ASIC fabrication processes.

toomanythings2 11y ago

Apparently it is different in other countries but I agree with you. This is something done by an EE, not a CS person in the US.

pjmlp 11y ago

In Portugal there isn't a CS degree as known in US. It is usually called Software Engineering in Informatics or something similar. In the universities where you have computing and EE degrees, you are free to mix and match computing and EE lectures for the optional credits that you need on top of the compulsory ones. Personally I just did some stuff of digital design and ended up spending the rest in systems and graphics programming. But other others were focusing in EE lectures, for example.