SDC 306 - Computer Architecture

[-BlackGold-]

I've been struggling with this class for the past few weeks and am unsure how to get over this hump with it. I am currently in my capstone course at TESU and this is the last course I need to finish my BS, but it feels kind of hopeless.

I've taken most of my courses through study.com and have always been able to figure the tests/projects out(if just barely), but this one seems impossible. I did C++ and data structures and algorithms (the two most difficult courses for me so far) and even those courses didn't take more than two or three weeks. I'm on week four of this course (passed the final) and am still struggling with the project.

Has anyone compiled a list of resources or references for this course? I have a handful of youtube videos but am curious if anyone has their old sources lying around from this project.

If I make it through this project I will make an annotated bibliography on google docs for anyone in the future so they are able to get through this easier. I may just find a pdf of thr textbook from earlier in this thread and go through it too see if that helps.

It isn’t hopeless! I have been asked for my sources for the project in the past. That is obviously cheating and I decline those requests.

As Rachael pointed out the requirements for the assignment are ambiguous. I found the grading lenient. But I spent an entire weekend on it. I spent an average of 2 hours on the other SDC assignments I did.

So there is no doubt this is the hardest CS course on SDC and the courseware is wholly inadequate to prepare you for it. Please mention that in the post course evaluation but don’t give up. This course absolutely needs to be improved.

YouTube Logisim circuits to follow the rubric. Figure out how Logisim works and you will learn far more than you did in any other SDC course. Stuff you probably should know if you are going to develop software for a living.

For the assembly code, it does not specify a real language. So make up an easy one and comment extensively so the grader can follow your logic. If you can’t figure out how to use registers to add two numbers you aren’t ready to get credit for architecture and shouldn’t.

It’s harder than anything you have done and is a right of passage but it is not impossible. Do not give up.

Thank you for the words of encouragement! I have been pretty busy with my capstone recently but I have been able to work on this project this week and am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

YouTube has definitely been the best resource so far and I've gotten the ALU mostly complete (just need to add a few more functions).

Working on this project more has given me a better understanding of why this project, in particular, has gotten to me-- most other courses give you decent starting points to jump off of and allow you to continue to explore the subject while this course really just leaves you high and dry. A lot of the course information is incredibly basic stuff that was covered in other classes but the course still requires a level of competency that can really only be acquired from putting in an amount of work that is seemingly equivalent to that of a more traditional class.


but like you said

Figure out how Logisim works and you will learn far more than you did in any other SDC course. Stuff you probably should know if you are going to develop software for a living.

I've definitely felt that with other my classes I've learned enough (through the course itself + my addition research) to have a working knowledge of the subject while this course has left me feeling everything but that. I suppose that just means I need to put in some more work in my free time, but I feel in retrospect that I would have preferred to take this course in a more traditional route lol. Hopefully I will have it finished by the end of next week!