CMPSC 595E: Seminar in Hardware Description Languages for Novel Architectures

Hardware description languages are key tools in turning architectural ideas into real chips. With the focus on agile and open source hardware design to solve post-Moore's Law problems, novel hardware description languages take on a renewed position of importance in advancing computer processor design. This seminar will explore the novel, and sometimes bizarre, languages attempting to disrupt the hardware design ecosystem over the last few decades. Students will be expected to read, learn, and present on these languages. We will focus on both the theoretical, academic aspects (reading papers, discussing, debating), and the practical engineering aspects (demos of the languages we discuss) in an effort to gain insight into what might be the key features needed to build a new generation of hardware description languages. Come join us!