Course Overview and Policies - FL21
Course Objectives
As computing systems become increasingly interconnected with all electrical systems (from smart power grids, to wearable electronics, to medical devices), both electrical and computer engineers need an understanding of how computing systems work. This course gives an introduction to the design and programming of computing systems. Throughout the course, we will discuss the connections between hardware and software, exploring the engineering trade-offs in using each platform to develop computing systems as well as how those systems may be used.
This course is the beginning of a three course sequence designed to reinforce this systems approach to computing. In this course, we begin by designing the building blocks of a computer architecture while introducing concepts of programming. By the end of the course you will know how to construct a computer architecture and how to program it in assembly language. In the next course (ECE 220), you will focus on developing your programming skills. Finally, in the third course (ECE 385), you will refine your understanding of computer hardware.
We will explore hardware topics through three modalities: describing circuit behavior with technical specifications using Boolean algebra, simulating circuits using digital design software, and building physical circuits that perform real-world tasks. By using the three modalities (Boolean expressions, circuit drawings and simulations, and actual hardware implementation), students are exposed to the digital systems design cycle, from the problem formulation stage to the actual hardware implementation and verification stage.
After completing this course, students should develop the skills required to solve engineering problems:
- understand the role and importance of abstraction in computing systems,
- recognize and be able to make use of standard digital components in designing simple combinational logic,
- be able to design and implement a simple finite state machine (FSM) as a clock-synchronous sequential circuit using digital logic and as a computer program written in LC-3 assembly language
- understand the principles of computer organization and understand how computers execute instructions, and
- be able to write simple programs in both C and assembly language.
Since this is a freshman course, we also have explicit objectives for providing students with an understanding of the profession. In particular, students who have completed this course should
- understand the expectations of the engineering discipline in terms of effort, quality, objectivity, and ethics
- recognize that self-motivation and lifelong learning are necessary to succeed in engineering,
- be able to articulate the importance of understanding trade-offs, and be able to recognize and identify basic design trade-offs.
The course also exposes students to various laboratory settings and after completing this course the students are expected to
- be familiar with a Linux command line environment: program execution, file system, text editing,
- be able to compile, test, and debug simple programs written in assembly and C languages,
- use professional CAD software on engineering workstations for schematic capture and simulation of small digital circuits, and
- use a prototyping board and microchips to build simple digital circuits.
Lecture notes: Prof. Lumetta's can be downloaded from (Download pdf lecture notes).
Textbook
Yale N. Patt and Sanjay J. Patel, Introduction to Computing Systems: from bits and gates to C and beyond, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2003.
or
Yale N. Patt and Sanjay J. Patel, Introduction to Computing Systems: from bits and gates to C and beyond, 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2019. (Purchase online textbook here Links to an external site.)
What you should know on the first day of class
Four lecture sections are being offered for ECE 120 this Fall. https://ece.illinois.edu/academics/courses/ECE120. Three sections will be taught as a traditional-lecture-based model (one section, AL6, will be taught in-person at ECEB 2015 and the other two sections, AL3 and AL4, will be taught online) and the other section (AL5) will be taught as an online flipped-learning-based model.
Traditional: AL3 and AL6 will be taught simultaneously (the in-person section, AL6, which will be taught in Room ECEB 2015, will be live-streamed for online students in section AL3) by Prof. Bhowmik. AL4 will be taught online by Prof. Bhat. Weekly 3 lectures, 1 synchronous discussion with group work led by TA.
"Flipped" model: AL5 (Prof. Levchenko). Weekly 3 synchronous "lecture-discussions" led by the instructor.
For the "flipped" section AL5: Students will watch recorded lectures (or read notes, or both, as they prefer) on their own time and then take quizzes based on that material and work together with the instructor on a worksheet during the scheduled lecture time (referred to as "lecture-discussion" above). Students in this section will not attend any discussion sections.
For the traditional sections AL6/AL3, AL4: This is the traditional format. You will attend lectures during the scheduled lecture times (ECEB 2015/ online synchronous lectures). During the scheduled discussion time, you will work with other students (over zoom) on a worksheet. The discussion sessions will be conducted by TAs.
For more information regarding the lecture delivery models, please see the link.
Discussion-Worksheet (Traditional Model) - Every Thursday
Students enrolled in the traditional sections note that the discussion sections start in the first week of class. You must attend the discussion you are registered in. Discussion sections will involve team-based problem solving, conducted by TAs. You should upload your discussion worksheet to Canvas. The submission deadline is 11:59 pm CT on the day of the discussion session.
Prelecture -Quizzes (Flipped Model) - due at 8:30 AM on the day of the live lecture session
Students enrolled in flipped sections note that the prelecture quizzes, which are closely related to prof. Lumetta's lecture recording and notes, are part of the grading for the flipped sections and are due by 8:30am CT for the lecture-discussion covered by the pre-lecture recording. You will take the prelecture quiz on PrairieLearn.
Homework
Homework assignments and their deadlines will be posted on the Syllabus -FL21 page of this wiki. Homeworks are submitted online through PrairieLearn / Canvas. Homework 1 -FL21 is due on Wednesday, Sept. 1 at 9:00 pm.
Laboratory assignments
Labs and their deadlines will be posted on the Syllabus -FL21. Labs will be due roughly every week. A failing grade (F) for the course will be given to any student who does not score at least 50% in the labs. Lab 1 -FL21 is due on Friday, Sept. 3 at 10:00 pm.
Midterms and final exam
Exam dates are posted on the Syllabus -FL21. All exams are online exams that you take at times posted on this Page.
Getting help
The ECE 120 Staff are committed to helping you learn, but you must ask for help! If you have technical questions, please ask at Office Hours -FL21 or post a question on the Canvas Discussion Board. You can also ask your instructor or TA quick questions after lecture or discussion. If you have questions about how to improve your learning skills, please feel free to ask any member of the course staff with whom you feel comfortable. These conversations are best had in person/Zoom (face-to-face) rather than by email. Finally, if you have questions about course logistics or can't get your question answered any other way, please email Prof. Bhowmik.
Grading Policy
- Homeworks - 15% (lowest two homework grades will be dropped)
- Labs - 15% (lowest single lab grade will be dropped, excluding Labs 12 and 13)
- Discussion - 10% (lowest two weeks will be dropped, see below)*
- Midterm 1 - 10%
- Midterm 2 - 15%
- Midterm 3 - 15%
- Final Exam - 20%
Every homework assignment will be weighted equally, even though the raw totals may be different. Likewise, every lab will be weighted equally. The lowest two homework grades will be dropped. The lowest single grade will be dropped among labs. For this reason, there will be no deadline extensions for any reason.
Discussion (10% of grade): 10% of your course grade, denoted Discussion above, will be calculated as the greater of your traditional discussion grade, and your flipped discussion grade.
- Your traditional discussion grade is the average of your discussion section worksheet scores after dropping the lowest two grades.
- Your flipped discussion grade is the equally-weighted (50%-50%) average of your pre-lecture quiz grade and your lecture-discussion attendance grade.
- Your pre-lecture quiz grade is the average of your pre-lecture quiz scores after dropping the lowest two blocks of three consecutive grades. Each block is three consecutive pre-lecture quizzes. Although each block is three consecutive pre-lecture quiz scores, the two blocks do not need to be consecutive. The two blocks will be chosen automatically in a way that maximizes your flipped discussion grade when your final course grade is calculated.
- Your lecture-discussion attendance grade is the average of your lecture-discussion attendance scores after dropping the same two lowest two blocks of three consecutive grades as used in the pre-lecture quiz grade calculation. Your lecture-discussion attendance score for each lecture-discussion is either:
- 100% if you attended 40 or more minutes of the lecture-discussion, or
- Your final pre-lecture quiz grade, as calculated above.
Grade cutoffs:
| A+ > 97 | B+ 87-89.99 | C+ 77-79.99 | D+ 67-69.99 | F < 60 |
| A 93-96.99 | B 83-86.99 | C 73-76.99 | D 63-66.99 | |
| A- 90-92.99 | B- 80-82.99 | C- 70-72.99 | D- 60-62.99 |
In the event that course performance is worse than expected, these cutoffs might be lowered, but they will never be raised. Furthermore, they are strict. For example, a grade of 89.99 is a B+ and not an A-. A failing grade (F) for the course will be given to any student who does not score at least 50% in the labs.
Hardware Labs:
Hardware Labs: (https://ece.illinois.edu/academics/ugrad/lab-kits)
ECE120 has a combination of hardware and software labs. All the labs will be performed online. Students will demonstrate their hardware labs online through Zoom. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and students' needs, the department has prepared Lab-kits for our students. It’s time to get students their Kits! Please take a look at the website, https://ece.illinois.edu/academics/ugrad/lab-kits
ECE120 Lab Kits: ECE120 Lab Kits can be acquired free of charge. Please read FAQ below before ordering. Mistakes will cause delays in receiving your kit!
Important Dates: Orders for ECE 120 will be accepted starting Monday, August 30, and the last date to place an order is Sept. 3
James Scholar honors lab:
James Scholar students or those working on honors labs to become a James Scholar are invited to participate in the James Scholar Honors Lab. For more information, please see FA 21 Intro Session_HonorsLab.pptx Download FA 21 Intro Session_HonorsLab.pptx.
We would like to extend an invitation to this semester’s Discord (https://discord.gg/GuN6rgt7 Links to an external site.), which will serve in parallel with emails to communicate to students as well as provides a place for students to talk and meet with their group online.
Submitting Regrade Requests
Regrade requests must be submitted to Prof. Bhowmik (ubhowmik@illinois.edu) within one week after you have received the graded exam/homework/Lab. (This date is not extended if you do not claim your work on time.) For any reason other than mistakes in addition on our part, you must explain why your answer merits more points. On the subject line of your email mention "Regarde Request". Any portion of an assignment for which you request a regrade may be regraded (in addition to those that you request), which could result in an overall reduction in your assignment grade.
Submitting Late Work
We will not accept late homework (unless specified on PrairieLearn) or lab assignments. If the Lab is not returned by the due time, you will receive 0 points for it. No exceptions.
Cheating and Academic Integrity
We take cheating very seriously.
The Student Code defines cheating as "Using or attempting to use in any academic exercise materials, information, study aids, or electronic data that the student knows or should know is unauthorized" (§1-402(a)) and notes that "Substantial portions of the same academic work may not be submitted for credit more than once or by more than one student without authorization." (§1-402(a)(4))
The student code also disallows facilitation of cheating, prohibiting "Helping or attempting to help another to commit an infraction of academic integrity, where one knows or should know that through one’s acts or omissions such an infraction may be facilitated." (§1-402(c))
How might cheating arise in a class like ECE 120? If two people work together on a homework or lab assignment and hand in the same, or a substantially similar solution, that would be "Substantial portions of the same academic work." If you need help and, during the course of helping you debug, a friend gives you a few lines of code, this is "using... information... known to be unauthorized." Letting someone else do your homework or write code for you is absolutely a violation.
Cheating is an offense to the entire academic system: you, your classmates, and the course staff. It creates extra work for the course staff, it creates grading imbalances for your classmates, and it prevents you from learning the material that the rest of your academic career is built on. We will take cheating very seriously. If we catch you cheating, helping someone cheat, or not reporting cheating that you know of, the incident will be reported to the College.
Guidelines for Authorized Assistance
Homework and software lab assignments will be graded individually. Students can receive assistance, but they should not view another student's homework solutions or code and may not write homework solutions and code for others. Students should not post their code or problem solutions electronically. We recommend that students discuss flow charts and algorithms, but write their own code by themselves. Similarly, students are welcome to discuss homework assignments with peers, however, they must write up their final solutions on their own.
Hardware labs are individual activities.
Exams are individual assignments. Students are not authorized to receive assistance from each other.
If you are confused about what exactly is or is not permitted, please ask the course instructors for clarification. Confusion or ignorance of the rules is not an excuse.
Attendance and Medical Excuses
Students are required to attend all lectures and discussions. Discussions are meant to increase students' understanding of the material presented in the lectures.
It is your responsibility to personally contact your instructors to discuss any missed exams, difficulties in attending classes regularly due to medical excuses. Within seven days of your discharge (hospital or clinic), you must bring and show to your professor a letter from the Dean of Students confirming your medical excuse.
Since we will implement the policy of dropping the lowest two grades in homeworks and discussions and the lowest single grade in labs, you do not need to show your instructor any medical excuse. Everybody gets these lowest grades dropped, no questions asked! Please take into account that no further concessions will be given during the semester for any reason: this policy is firm.
Accommodations
To obtain disability-related academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the course coordinator and the Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible. To contact DRES, you may visit 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, call 333-4603, e-mail disability@illinois.edu or go to the DRES website.
For instructions on how to handle accommodations with the Computer-based Testing Facility, please see the link.
Sexual Misconduct Policy and Reporting
The University of Illinois is committed to combating sexual misconduct. Faculty and staff members are required to report any instances of sexual misconduct to the University’s Title IX and Disability Office. In turn, an individual with the Title IX and Disability Office will provide information about rights and options, including accommodations, support services, the campus disciplinary process, and law enforcement options.
A list of the designated University employees who, as counselors, confidential advisors, and medical professionals, do not have this reporting responsibility and can maintain confidentiality, can be found here: wecare.illinois.edu/resources/students/#confidential.
Other information about resources and reporting is available here: wecare.illinois.edu.
Emergency Situation (Run>Hide>Fight)
Get Familiar with the Canvas
Make sure you read carefully and understand the information posted on the Canvas. Confusion or ignorance of the rules is not an excuse not to comply with them. If you have a question, please contact the instructors.
When writing comments/posting questions on the Canvas Discussion Board, remember to be civil. As a rule of thumb, if you would not dare to say something in front of everybody in the lecture room, it is probably not wise to post it on the wiki either. We expect you to be polite both in the classroom and online.
Finally, please remember that students should not post code or problem solutions on the course website.