Digital Design & Comp. Arch: L1: Introduction: Fundamentals, Transistors, Gates (Spr 2026)
Why It Matters
Mastering hardware fundamentals is critical because today’s AI and software advances depend on processor and chip design; understanding transistors-to-systems enables better optimization, innovation, and informed participation in industry and research.
Summary
The lecture is an introductory session to digital design and computer architecture, framing the course as a ground-up exploration of how computers are built—starting from CMOS transistors as the fundamental switching element and progressing to logic, arithmetic, memory, and whole CPUs/GPUs. The instructor outlines course structure, hands-on hardware programming components, and plans to demystify how modern processors and GPUs that power AI are constructed. He also introduces the teaching team and links course topics to industry practice and research areas like prefetching, hardware security, and performance optimization. The tone emphasizes the course’s practical relevance and its ambition to cover all abstraction layers so students understand both fundamentals and advanced topics.
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