C1:
This chapter has introduced principles for understanding and designing
complex systems. Although the real world is analog, digital designers dis
cipline themselves to use a discrete subset of possible signals. In particu
lar, binary variables have just two states: 0 and 1, also called FALSE
and TRUE or LOW and HIGH. Logic gates compute a binary output
from one or more binary inputs. Some of the common logic gates are:
▶
NOT:
TRUE when input is FALSE
▶
AND:
TRUE when all inputs are TRUE
▶
OR:
TRUE when any inputs are TRUE
▶
XOR:
TRUE when an odd number of inputs are TRUE
Logic gates are commonly built from CMOS transistors, which
behave as electrically controlled switches. nMOS transistors turn ON
(CMOS的半导体器件特性)
when the gate is 1. pMOS transistors turn ON when the gate is 0
C2:
addresses
combinational logic
, in which the outputs depend only on the
current inputs. The logic gates introduced already are examples of combina
tional logic. You will learn to design circuits involving multiple gates to
implement a relationship between inputs and outputs specified by a truth
table or Boolean equation
(组合逻辑电路)
C3:
addresses
sequential logic
, in which
the outputs depend on both current and past inputs.
Registers
are com
mon sequential elements that remember their previous input.
Finite state
machines
, built from registers and combinational logic, are a powerful
way to build complicated systems in a systematic fashion. We also study
timing of digital systems to analyze how fast a system can operate.
(时序电路、寄存器的运用)
C4:
describes hardware description languages (HDLs). HDLs are related
to conventional programming languages but are used to simulate and
build hardware rather than software.
Most digital systems today are
designed with HDLs. SystemVerilog and VHDL are the two prevalent lan
guages, and they are covered side-by-side in this book.
(硬件描述语言和Verilog的使用)
C5:
studies
other combinational and sequential building blocks such as adders, multi
pliers, and memories.
(其他时序器件)
C6:
shifts to computer architecture. It describes the MIPS pro
cessor, an industry-standard microprocessor used in consumer electronics,
some Silicon Graphics workstations, and many communications systems
such as televisions, networking hardware, and wireless links. The MIPS
architecture is defined by its registers and assembly language instruction
set. You will learn to write programs in assembly language for the MIPS
processor so that you can communicate with the processor in its native
language.
C7&C8:
investigates microarchitecture, the arrangement of
digital building blocks, such as adders and registers, needed to construct a
processor. In that chapter, you learn to build your own MIPS processor.
Indeed, you learn three microarchitectures illustrating different trade-offs
of performance and cost. Processor performance has increased exponen
tially, requiring ever more sophisticated memory systems to feed the insa
tiable demand for data
delves into memory system architecture
and also describes how computers communicate with peripheral devices
such as keyboards and printers.