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THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING WITHIN THE EE (EL) DEPARTMENT | ||
| This page shows the development of the CPE type courses
which formed the basis of the EE department's half of the Computer Engineering
Program. An overview of these courses is shown below. In order
to track these courses, the various numbers and prefixes have been shown.
No attempt has been made to affix the change in prefix to a date.
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| The first computer engineering course in the department
(and in the entire university, was EL406 (later changed to EL404).
Its description, from the 1961-1964 Cal Poly catelog is shown below.
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| EL 406 Principles of Digital Computers (3)
Study of computer logic. Types of functional elements in digital computers. Design of the complete digital computer. 3 lectures. Prerequisite: EL 405 |
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| This course was designed to teach electrical engineers
all they needed to know about Digital Computers! Today, this is obviously
impossible to accomplish in a 3 unit course, but in 1962, there was not
that much to know. The course was taught, originally, by Charles
Ackerman who left Cal Poly for HP in about 1964. Professor McMorran
took the course over and decided that you can not teach all there is to
know in this one course. After several years as an experimental course,
taught by Prof. McMorran in addition to his normal teaching load, EL408
was developed to teach computers as such and leave the more basic subjects
in EL404. The course descriptions are shown below as it appeared
in the 1970 catelog.
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| EL 404 Principles of Digital Computers (3)
Organization of typical digital computer. Combinational and sequential switching circuit analysis and synthesis with emphasis on modern electronic devices used in the design of electronic computers. Properties of modern high-speed memory systems. Coding systems. 3 lectures. Prerequisite: EL 316, 321, or consent of instructor. EL 408 Digital Computer Systems (3)
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| By 1971 it is realized that basic digital design and fundumentals
of computers could not both be taught in one course. So, the 1971
catalog shows EL404 replaced with EL319 and EL407. These are shown
below (from the 1971 catelog).
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| EL 319 Logic and Switching Circuits (3)
Fundamentals of Boolean algebra. The simplification of combinational logic circuits using tabular, map, and computer techniques. Combinational circuit synthesis in terms of NAND, NOR and other modern logic circuits. Analysis and synthesis of asynchronous and clocked sequential circuits; basic computer concepts. 3 lectures. Prerequisite: EL 314 EL 407 Digital Computer Subsystems (4)
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| As the above change was made, Prof. McMorran was pushing
yet another experimental course dealing with the important subject of computer
peripherals and interfacing. This finally made the catelog in 1973
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| EL409 Computer Peripheral Interfacing (3)
Hardware interfacing of a computer with external devices and systems, interfacing of common peripheral devices. 3 lectures. Prerequisite: EL 407 |
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| In the early 1970's, a small company manufactoring solid
state memories introduced the Intel 4004 and the Intel 8008. Rockwell
then introduced the PPS4 and PPS8, Motola stripped down a PDP11 computer
into an 8-bit version, calling it the 6800. As these developments
came about, Prof. McMorran urged that a microprocessor applications course
be offered. This was done for several years on an experimental basis.
Finally, a new course, EL404 (not the old EL404) and a new faculty member
(Mike Fitzpatrick from UCSB) emerged.
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| EL 404 Microprocessor System Design Methodologies
(3)
Classification and functional configurations of existing microprocessors and analysis of hardware system designs and system economics. Interface design techniques utilizing programmable I/0 interfaces, real-time clocks, interrupts, and DMA channels. Representative applications. 3 lectures. Prerequisite: EL 319, CSc 221, or consent of instructor. |
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| About this same time, the College of Engineering began
a program of graduate studies. For the computer engineering area
of these studies, Professors Fitzpatrick and McMorran developed the following
courses (Later prefixed with EL and then EE).
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| ENGR 520 Digital Systems Design (3)
Design of asynchronous sequential machines and pulse mode logic circuits. Selected automata theory topics. Modern digital system design. Analysis of MOS-LSI multiphase logic structures. Comparison of digital subsystems. Microprocessor as a digital subsystem module. 3 lectures. Prerequisite: EL 319, graduate standing, or consent of instructor. ENGR 521 Computer Systems (3)
ENGR 522 Microprocessor-Based Digital System Design (4)
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| By 1977, the state of digital design had reached a point
where EL319 was not sufficient to cover the toal field of digital design.
The combinational design part of the course was moved to a new course,
EL219. The 1977 description of it is below.
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| EL 219 Logic and Switching Circuits (3)
Fundamentals of Boolean Algebra and Modulo-N arithmetic and digital coding techniques. Fundamental minimization techniques. Multiple function synthesis using ROM's and PLA'~S. Combinational circuit design as it applies to computers. Sequential circuit elements, flip-flops, counters and shift-registers. Introduction to state machine analysis. 3 lectures. Prerequisite: CSc 101. |
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| With EL219, all of the EL Department courses necessary for a Computer Engineering Program where in place. But it takes more than just courses to make up a program. The next page of this section will deal with what else was necessary | |||
