EXPLORING THE HARDWARE/SOFTWARE INTERFACE

Course Description

In this course, we will cover different programming models supported by hardware (past, present, and future), and how they influence software and programming languages. We will explore programming abstractions targeting computers other than general-purpose computers (accelerators, game consoles, virtual machines, "esoteric"/"weird" machines).

The goal is to understand the connection between the specification and implementation of a computing model and its effect on writing software. Assignments/projects will be centered around implementing some of these models (as virtual machines or even as hardware), and using existing tools to prove properties about them (for example, do they match the behavior defined in the specification). Emphasis is put on students finding a programming model that's interesting to them or designing their own. Prerequisites: CMPTGCS 1B and 2.