Internship, PhD, job proposals...

• [2023-10-18] Arm has several internship offers for the Sophia-Antipolis R&D center, France, that are perfectly in line with this course and/or the Digital Systems course:
  • General presentation flyer
  • Internship proposals
• [2023-10-13] STMicrolectronics has 2 open internship positions in Rousset, France, that are perfectly in line with this course and the Hardware Security course:
  • constant-time analysis of cryptographic software in embedded systems
  • firmware fault resistance analysis

This course provides an overview of the architecture of microprocessor-based systems. It presents the main hardware and software components and the concept of instruction set which can be considered as the hardware-software interface. It is intended for students who never had courses in computer architecture The lectures are complemented by lab sessions to illustrate the interactions between hardware and software (processor simulators, debugging, step by step execution...).

Attending the lectures is not mandatory but highly recommended: there is no real textbook and the provided material does not contain the entirety of what is discussed in the classroom.

The lab sessions are mandatory, the reports and the produced source code account for 30% of the overall mark. It is perfectly possible, and even recommended, to work in cooperation with others but lab reports and source codes are 100% personal works. Identical reports or source codes will be considered as void.

A one hour written exam accounts for the remaining 70%. The questions and problems correspond to all labs and lectures that have been given. Connected devices (laptops, smart phones, tablets...) are not allowed. Example past exams:

• 2023 (duration: 1 hour)
• 2022 (duration: 2 hours)

Recommendations for the lab sessions

All labs are distributed and managed using git and GitLab.

• If you never used the EURECOM GitLab instance, first visit it and log in using your EURECOM credentials (LDAP). This will activate your GitLab account.
• Visit the ia project and request access.
• As soon as you will be granted access you will receive an email. Visit the ia project again, read the home page and follow the instructions.
• All lab instructions are given for a GNU/Linux environment (Debian, Ubuntu...) If you work on your personal computer under another Operating System you will have to adapt the instructions.

You read one of these books? Or another that is not in the list and should? Please drop me note and give me some feedback.

The most relevant parts of the Computer Organization and Design, RISC-V Edition (The Hardware Software Interface) book for this course (do not forget the corresponding exercises at the end of each chapter) are:

• Section 1.3 Below Your Program
• Sections 2.1 to 2.10 of Chapter 2 Instructions: Language of the Computer
• Sections 3.1 and 3.2 of Chapter 3 Arithmetic for Computers
• Section 4.2 Logic Design Conventions
• Section A.1 to A.3, A.5 and A.7 of Appendix A The Basics of Logic Design

Plus, optionally:

• Section Historical Perspective and Further Reading of Chapters 1 and 2
• Section 2.13 A C Sort Example to Put it All Together