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Behrooz Parhami's ECE 1B Course Page for Spring 2021
Ten Puzzling Problems in Computer Engineering
Page last updated on 2021 June 08
Note: ECE 1B used to be ECE 1 (see history at the end of this page)
Enrollment code: 11676
Prerequisite: Open to computer engineering students only
Class meetings: M 5:00-6:15, asynch. recorded lectures
Instructor: Professor Behrooz Parhami
Zoom office hours: M 5:00-6:00 (details on GauchoSpace)
Course announcements: Listed in reverse chronological order
Grading scheme: Pass/Fail grade is assigned based on attendance*
Course calendar: Schedule of lectures and links to lecture slides
The ten lectures: Lecture summaries and references
Additional topics: Possible replacements for current lectures
Attendance* record: Please check regularly for possible errors
Miscellaneous information: Motivation, catalog entry, history
Note: The design and goals of this innovative freshman seminar are described in a brief article, a short paper, and a full paper:
- IEEE Computer, Vol. 42, No. 3, Mar. 2009 (PDF file)
- IEEE Trans. Education, Vol. 52, No. 3, Aug. 2009 (PDF file)
- Computer Science Education, Vol. 18, No. 4, Dec. 2008 (PDF file)
Course Announcements
2021/06/08: The spring 2021 offering of ECE 1B is officially over and grades have been reported to the Registrar. Three students received "Not pass" grades: Two with Mrep numbers 79 & 986 (excessive absences) and one with Mrep number 90 (absences in Lectures 2 & 7, but not showing up in the scheduled oral final exam Zoom session). I know that remote instruction wasn't ideal for this seminar, but we had to make do within the imposed constraints. I hope you enjoyed taking the course as much as I enjoyed teaching it. Wishing you a successful end to the spring quarter and a pleasant summer. Hope to see many of you around the campus, as we resume in-person activities during fall 2021!
2021/05/28: I have compiled, checked, and finalized the attendance record for ECE 1B. Two students (having Mrep numbers 79 & 986) will receive "Not pass" grades due to too many absences. One student (094) will receive a "Not pass" grade based on an unexplained single absence. Six students will have to contact me with all of their available times on R-F June 03-04, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM PDT, and I will get back to them with a half-hour oral exam time slot on Zoom. Your video should be on during the Zoom session. Here are the six students' Mrep numbers, along with the missed lectures on which they will be tested: 094 (6&9); 26 (2&7); 43 (3&5); 694 (4&5); 707 (4&9); 90 (2&7). If we can't schedule the oral exam on the dates specified above, the only other option is to have them during the time span assigned to the course's final exam, which is T June 08, 7:30-10:30 PM PDT. I assume that you will all be available during that time span and will send you a half-hour time slot for a Zoom session if I don't hear from you. 2021/05/22: This coming week, we will have the last lecture for the course (recall that May 31 is a holiday, so we won't have the usual 10th class). Please watch Lecture 9, entitled "Sorting Networks." Once you submit your attendance report for Lecture 9 (by 6:00 PM on W 5/26), I will update the attendance record at the bottom of this page, assigning "Pass" grades to those with no absence or one explained absence. Please check the list to see whether you need to submit an e-mail explanation for your single absence. Those with two absences, please provide your available times during R-F 6/03-04 for a 30-minute oral final exam covering the two missed lectures (list ALL available time slots from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM to make scheduling possible). If I can't schedule your oral final exam during the last two days of classes, I will use the final exam time slot assigned to the course (T 6/08, 7:30-10:30 PM). Please do not forget to complete the instructor and course evaluation surveys. I will very much appreciate your feedback that helps me improve the course in future offerings.
2021/05/16: This coming week, we will have the next-to-the-last lecture for the course (recall that May 31 is a holiday, so we won't have the usual 10th class). The attendance record at the bottom of this page shows that two students have already been assigned NP grades (due to having 3 or more absences) and four must take an oral final exam (2 absences). Students who have a single absence can get a P for the course if they don't have an additional absence during the last two lectures AND they send me an e-mail message to explain the absence (some have already done so, as indicated in the attendance record). Please check the attendance record on a regular basis to ensure its accuracy. Please watch Lecture 8, entitled "String Matching" and send me your attendance e-mail no later than W 5/19, 6:00 PM PDT. A final note: Instructor and course evaluation surveys will be coming your way soon! Please complete the surveys: Your input will help me develop and improve this course for future students. Besides questions that ask for numerical ratings, you can also write comments in free form. Be constructive: Tell me what worked and what didn't.
2021/05/09: We are now done with 2/3 of the course content, that is, 6 of the 9 lectures. The attendance record at the bottom of this page shows that two students have already been assigned NP grades (3 or more absences) and two must take an oral final exam (2 absences). Students with a single absence can get a P for the course if they don't have an absence during the last three lectures AND they send me an e-mail message to explain the absence (some have already done so, as indicated in the attendance record). Please check the attendance record on a regular basis to ensure its accuracy. Please watch Lecture 7, entitled "Task Scheduling" and send me your attendance report (answers to questions Q1-Q4 posed on the slides) no later than W 5/12, 6:00 PM PDT. Later submissions will not count. Please use the subject line: ECE 1B Attendance Report, Lecture 7, Monday 2021/05/10 and include your full name and Perm Number at the beginning of your message.
2021/05/03: Please watch Lecture 6 entitled "Binary Search" and send me your attendance report (answers to questions Q1-Q4 posed on the slides) no later than W 5/05, 6:00 PM PDT. Later submissions will not count. Use the subject line: ECE 1B Attendance Report, Lecture 6, Monday 2021/05/03. Begin the text of your e-mail with your full name and Perm Number, followed by A1-A4. Given the large class size, including your full name and perm number is important for proper credit, as your identity isn't always evident from your e-mail ID.
2021/04/25: Please watch Lecture 5 entitled "Byzantine Generals" and send me your attendance report (answers to questions Q1-Q4 posed on the slides) no later than W 4/28, 6:00 PM PDT. Later submissions will not count. Please use the subject line: ECE 1B Attendance Report, Lecture 5, Monday 2021/04/26. Begin the text of your e-mail with your full name and Perm Number, followed by A1-A4. Given the large class size, including your full name and perm number is important for proper credit, as your identity isn't always evident from your e-mail ID.
2021/04/13: The first two weeks of classes went well, as judged by the high turn-in rate for attendance reports. Hope the trend continues in this third week. Please watch Lecture 3, entitled "Satisfiability," and send me your attendance report, as described in an e-mail message sent to you via GauchoSpace, by W 4/14, 6:00 PM PDT. Later submissions will not count. Also, check my record of your "attendance" at the end of this page regularly and report any problems to me right away.
2021/04/05: Hope all is going well for you, academically and personally, as we begin the second week of classes. Please watch Lecture 2, entitled "Placement and Routing," and send me your attendance report, as described in an e-mail message sent to you via GauchoSpace, by W 4/07, 6:00 PM PDT. Later submissions will not count. Also, check my record of your "attendance" at the end of this page regularly and report any problems to me right away.
2021/03/30: Hope the first week of classes is going well for you. We had our first lecture, entitled "Easy, Hard, Impossible" yesterday. Given that the only requirement for the course is submission of weekly "attendance" reports, I want to make sure you are all aware of this requirement. An attendance e-mail should be sent to me at the e-mail address shown in the image on top of this page between 6:00 PM on Monday, when the lecture is scheduled, and 6:00 PM on Wednesday, 48 hours later. Please use the subject line: "ECE 1B Attendance Report, Lecture n, Monday 2021/mm/dd". Begin the text of your e-mail with your full name and Perm Number, followed by A1-A4 to Q1-Q4 (including your name and perm number are important. I have received quite a few attendance e-mails which required detective work to determine who they were from; some e-mail IDs do not lead to easy identification of the account's owner). Those of you who have already submitted attendance e-mails for Lecture 1, please check the bottom of this Web page to ensure your attendance has been properly recorded.
2021/03/24: Welcome to the ECE 1B Web page for spring 2021. We expect to have around 100 students. Please read the grading scheme very carefully, so you can earn a "pass" grade at the end of the quarter. ECE 1B requires no textbook and has no homework assignments or exams during its normal offerings. But, spring 2021 is far from normal. Read on.
[Please report any broken hyperlinks and other problems on this page to the instructor.]
Important special announcement about the spring 2021 offering of ECE 1B:
a. About your instructor: I have been at UCSB since 1988 (almost 33 years) and, before that, taught at other institutions for 15 years. I got my PhD at UCLA in 1973. I am looking forward to celebrating my 50th year as a professor in March 2023!
b. On coronavirus and COVID-19: We are experiencing enormous difficulties, as we adhere to social-distancing and other restrictions and worry about our own health and the health of our loved ones. With vaccinations already begun, there is light at the end of the tunnel. It appears that we may be able to return to normal instruction in fall 2021. Meanwhile, I will try to be as flexible as possible to accommodate any special needs.
c. Your photo: Those of you who don't have a photo on GauchoSpace, please consider adding one, to make it easier for us to connect.
d. Enrollment: Course enrollment stands at 72 as of today, but it may increase, given the enrollment/add petitions we normally receive just before start of classes.
e. Lectures: I will use recorded lectures from spring 2020, available as YouTube videos, so there will be no live questioning or discussion. I will accept your questions via e-mail (for quick questions needing brief answers) or during my office hours (for lengthier ones). Links to lecture videos are provided under Course Calendar. Please ignore any mention of dates in the various videos, which were recorded in spring 2020. For example, the first lecture instead of being on 3/30 will be on 3/29.
f. First lecture: Please watch the 65-minute video containing an introduction to the course, plus the first lecture. Pay special attention to the requirement for submitting the answers to four questions for each lecture, in lieu of "attendance" verification normally used. The deadline for me receiving the answers via e-mail is 48 hours after the scheduled lecture time. So, plan on e-mailing your answers by 6:30 PM each Wednesday.
g. The remaining lectures: The remaining lectures are also available as YouTube videos, so there will be no live questioning or discussion. I will accept your questions via e-mail (for quick questions needing a brief answer) or during my Zoom office hours (for lengthier ones). This is unfortunate, as interactive puzzle-solving, a main feature of this course, will be lost, but this is one of the compromises I have had to make in order to adjust to the new mode of instruction. Links to lecture videos are provided under Course Calendar.
h. "Attendance": There is a section near the end of the course Web page where I will record your "attendance," that is, receiving an acceptable e-mail from you about the four questions posed in each lecture. Use the subject line: "ECE 1B: Attendance in Lecture n, 2021/mm/dd." Additional details are given in the first lecture. You have 48 hours after the scheduled lecture date to send me your attendance e-mail.
i. Office hours: I have converted the first hour of our scheduled class time (M 5:00-6:00) to a Zoom office hour specific to this course. This hour should not conflict with your other course commitments, given how courses are scheduled. So, we are using what is known as the "flipped classroom model": Lectures watched ahead of time, with questions/discussion, if any, during the scheduled lecture time. Zoom meeting details will be sent to you via GauchoSpace.
Grading Scheme
Pass/Not-Pass grading is based on attendance* and class participation. There will be no homework or exam.
0 absence: Automatic "Pass."
1 absence: "Pass" if you submit a written statement to explain the absence. Any explanation is acceptable.
2 absences: Can earn a "Pass" grade by taking an oral final exam covering the two missed lectures.
3 or more absences: Automatic "Not-Pass."
Normally, attendance is taken as follows. Attendance slips are distributed at the beginning of each class session, with additional slips supplied to those arriving up to 10 minutes late. Students write their names and perm numbers on the slips and turn them in before leaving the classroom at the end of the lecture. You have to turn in your attendance slip in person, not through another student.
For spring 2021, we will have asynchronous on-line lectures and a flipped-classroom model, so assessment and grading are different. See paragraph e of the item for 2/13 under Course Announcements above.
Course Calendar
Course lectures have been scheduled as follows. PowerPoint presentations (up to 2+ MB), and equivalent PDF files, are updated periodically. Please note that any animation in PowerPoint presentations is lost in the PDF versions.
There will be some updating of the slides throughout the quarter, so please pay attention to the "last updated" information shown next to the links for downloading.
Day & Date (Lecture slides, ppt + pdf, and ppt handout) Lecture topic [Lead puzzle]
M 3/29 (ppt, pdf, lecture 1, last updated 2020/03/20) Easy, Hard, Impossible! [Collatz's conjecture]
M 4/05 (ppt, pdf, lecture 2, last updated 2020/04/02) Placement and routing [Houses and utilities]
M 4/12 (ppt, pdf, lecture 3, last updated 2020/04/08) Satisfiability [Making change]
M 4/19 (ppt, pdf, lecture 4, last updated 2020/04/15) Cryptography [Secret messages]
M 4/26 (ppt, pdf, lecture 5, last updated 2020/04/23) Byzantine generals [Liars and truth-tellers]
M 5/03 (ppt, pdf, lecture 6, last updated 2020/04/27) Binary search [Counterfeit coin]
M 5/10 (ppt, pdf, lecture 7, last updated 2020/05/03) Task scheduling [Sudoku]
M 5/17 (ppt, pdf, lecture 8, last updated 2020/05/12) String matching [Word search]
M 5/24 (ppt, pdf, lecture 9, last updated 2020/05/19) Sorting networks [Rearranging trains]
M 5/31 Memorial Day observance: No lecture during spring 2021 (ppt, pdf, lecture (N/A), last updated 2016/05/26) Malfunction diagnosis [Logical reasoning]
F 6/04, 12:00-7:00 PM (Half-hour oral final exams, to be scheduled for those with 2 absences)
W 6/16 (Grades due by midnight)
Summary and References for the Ten Lectures
A one-page summary for each of the ten lectures is included in the following paper; additional print and on-line references are given below.
Parhami, B., "A Puzzle-Based Seminar for Computer Engineering Freshmen," Computer Science Education, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 1-17, Dec. 2008. (PDF file)
Lecture 1: Easy, Hard, Impossible
Fun with Fibonacci numbers, by Gareth E. Roberts [Seminar slides]
Fibonacci numbers: family trees for bees (BP's Math+Fun page) [Word file]
More on Collatz's conjecture [Wikipedia article]
On the unprovability of Collatz's conjecture, by C. A. Feinstein [Article]
Lecture 2: Placement and Routing
Houses and utilities puzzle [The Math Forum @ Drexel]
Euler's Formula: V – E + F = 2 [Twenty Proofs]
Lecture 3: Satisfiability
Making $5 Using 50 Coins [Ask Dr. Math]
Interactive game, by O. Roussel [The SAT Game]
Lecture 4: Cryptography
Web-based tutorial by P. Gutman [Cryptography and Security]
Web page maintained by T. Sale [The Enigma Cipher Machine]
The Enigma explained [12-minute video]
The fatal flaw in Enigma [11-minute video]
NSA Mathematician David Pery's 65-minute talk on Enigma (cryptography)
Introduction to Cryptography, by John Mason (thebestvpn)
Khan Academy 10-minute video on the Enigma: Part of the module "Journey into Cryptography"
Lecture 5: Byzantine Generals
Saka, P., How to Think About Meaning, Springer, 2007
Resource Web page by A. Montalban and Y. Interian [Liars and Truth-Teller Puzzles] (Link broken?)
Lecture 6: Binary Search
Du, D.-Z., and F.K. Hwang, Combinatorial Group Testing and Its Applications, 2nd ed., World Scientific, 2000 (See Chapter 16, pp. 295-318)
Programs for solving counterfeit-coin problems [Coding resources and hints]
Lecture 7: Task Scheduling
Aaronson, L., "Sudoku Science: A Popular Puzzle Helps Researchers Dig into Deep Math," IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 16-17, February 2006
Online Sudoku and other interesting logic puzzles [Logic Games Online]
Lecture 8: String Matching
Website with free online tools for creating word-search and other puzzles [Puzzlemaker]
Lecture 9: Sorting Networks
Hayes, B., "Trains of Thought: Computing with Locomotives and Box Cars Takes a One-Track Mind," American Scientist, Vol. 95, No. 2, pp. 108-113, March-April 2007 [Read on-line]
Parhami, B., Introduction to Parallel Processing: Algorithms and Architectures, Plenum Press, 1999 (See Chapter 7, pp. 129-147, for an introduction to sorting networks)
Lecture 10: Malfunction Diagnosis
Logic problems [Expand Your Mind] (Link broken?)
Somani, A. K., V. K. Agarwal, and D. Avis, "A Generalized Theory for System Level Diagnosis," IEEE Trans. Computers, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 538-546, May 1987
Additional Lecture Topics for Possible Future Use
The following additional topics are being considered for inclusion as future lecture topics:
Topic A: Computational Geometry
Puzzles based on visual tricks and optical illusions
Web site devoted to discrete and computational geometry [The Geometry Junkyard]
See lectures 7 and 8 in the fall 2016 offering of the freshman seminar INT 94TN
Topic B: Loss of Precision
Puzzles based on logical paradoxes and absurdities
Parhami, B., Computer Arithmetic: Algorithms and Hardware Designs, Oxford University Press, 2000 (See Problems 1.1-1.3)
Topic C: Secret Sharing
Puzzles based on anonymous complainers and whistle blowers
Shamir, A., "How to Share a Secret," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 22, No. 11, pp. 612-613, 1979
Secret sharing [Wikipedia article]
Topic D: Amdahl's Law
Puzzles on river and bridge crossings
Parhami, B., Computer Architecture: From Microprocessors to Supercomputers, Oxford University Press, 2005 (See Section 4.3)
Amdahl's law [Wikipedia article]
Topic E: Predicting the Future
Puzzles based on determining the next term in a series
Sloane, N.J.A., "Find the Next Term," J. Recreational Mathematics, Vol. 7, No. 2, p. 146, Spring 1974 [GIF]
Sloane, N.J.A., Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences [Access on-line]
See lectures 1 and 2 in the fall 2016 offering of the freshman seminar INT 94TN
Topic F: Circuit Value Problem
Puzzles based on parallelization of hopelessly sequential problems
Greenlaw, R., H.J. Hoover, and W.L. Ruzzo, Limits to Parallel Computation: P-Completeness Theory, Oxford University Press, 1995 (See Section 4.2, pp. 75-76)
Topic G: Maps and Graphs
Puzzles based on map/graph coloring and graph properties
Feeman, T.G., Portraits of the Earth: A Mathematician Looks at Maps, American Mathematical Society, 2002
See lectures 9 and 10 in the fall 2016 offering of the freshman seminar INT 94TN
Topic H: Device Variability
Puzzles based on detecting differences in two nearly identical images
Tutorial sources about nanoelectronics device variability and design under variability to be located
Topic I: Cellular Automata
Conway's Game of Life
Wikipedia article on Conway's Game of Life
Martin Gardner's Scientific American article on Conway's Game of Life
Eric Weisstein's Treasure Trove of the Life Cellular Automaton
Topic J: Recommender Systems
Puzzles based on finding similarities or differences among a series of images
Fingerprint matching; Google's page-rank algorithm
Mining massive datasets (YouTube videos) [See in particular video 5.1]
See lectures 3 and 4 in the fall 2016 offering of the freshman seminar INT 94TN
Topic K: 3D Models from 2D Images
Puzzles based on deducing the shapes of 3D objects from 2D projections
3D illudion in 2D drawings (sidewalk art)
Architecrtural visualization; preserving models of historical sites in danger or collapse/destruction;
Modeling industrial parts and assemblies; layered models (3D printing)
See lectures 5 and 6 in the fall 2016 offering of the freshman seminar INT 94TN
Student Attendance Record
In the following table, absence is marked with a "1" and presense with a "0". The first ten columns correspond to Lectures 1-10, the next column, Σ, is the total number of absences, and "Mrep" is the first few digits of the reversed Perm Number. For example, a student with the Perm Number 9876543 will have a Mrep code of 3, 34, 345, 3456, ... , depending on whether other students have Perm Numbers with the same ending.
For the spring 2021 offering, "attendance" means that you sent the instructor an e-mail message with the subject line "ECE 1B Attendance Report, Lecture n, Monday 2021/mm/dd" (with your full name and Perm Number along with the answers to the four questions in the body of the message as A1 to A4, and attached jpg diagrams, if needed), and that your submission was reasonable (not all answers need to be correct, as long as you demonstrate that you did the requisite work). Answers should include adequate justifications; I was quite liberal in assessing attendance reports for Lecture 1, but please include adequate justifications, and not just the answer, in future reports. Due to one of our class sessions coinciding with the Memorial Day observance on 5/31, Lecture 10 has been cancelled and attendance will be assessed based only on Lectures 1-9.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Σ Mrep Notes about attendance, oral final exam, and grade
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 03 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 04 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 056 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 058 Pass
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 06 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 085 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 086 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 094 Pass (based on oral final exam on F 6/04, 12:00 PM)
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 096 Pass
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 10 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 12 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 15 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 162 Pass
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 163 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 164 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 166 Pass
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 18 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 Pass
0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 26 Pass (based on ral final exam on F 6/04, 12:30 PM)
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 27 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 28 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 33 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 36 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 37 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 390 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 394 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4114 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4117 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 413 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 415 Pass
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 43 Pass (based on oral final exam on F 6/04, 8:30 AM)
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 44 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 46 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 48 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 49 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 52 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 531 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 532 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 545 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 549 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 55 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 56 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 62 Pass
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 64 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 65 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 683 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6892 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6895 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 691 Pass
0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 694 Pass (based on oral final exam on T 6/08, 7:30 PM)
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 714 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 72 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 74 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 75 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 78 Pass
0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 6 79 Not pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 804 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 809 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 81 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 82 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 85 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 87 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 891 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 898 Pass
0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 90 Not pass (no-show at oral final exam on T 6/08, 8:00 PM)
0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 94 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 95 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 974 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 979 Pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 981 Pass
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 9 986 Not pass
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 991 Pass
1 4 3 8 5 8 8 3 23 0 63 999 Column totals
Miscellaneous Information
Motivation: Whether they work in the industry or in academic research settings, computer engineers face many challenges in their quest to design or effectively employ faster, smaller, lower-energy, more reliable, and cost-effective systems. Most computer engineering students do not begin tackling such problems, and more generally are not exposed to specific challenges of their field of study, until they enroll in upper-division major courses. Meanwhile, during their freshman- and sophomore-year experiences with foundational courses in mathematics, physics, electrical circuits, and programming, they wonder about where they are headed and what types of problems they will encounter as working professionals. This course is intended to provide an introduction to day-to-day problems and research endeavors in computer engineering via their connections to familiar mathematical and logical puzzles.
Catalog entry: 1B. Ten Puzzling Problems in Computer Engineering. (1) PARHAMI. Seminar, 1 hour.
Prerequisite: Open to computer engineering majors only.
Repeat comments: Not open for credit for those who have taken ECE 1.
Gaining familiarity with, and motivation to study, the field of computer engineering, through puzzle-like problems that represent a range of challenges facing computer engineers in their daily problem-solving efforts and at the frontiers of research.
History: This 1-unit freshman seminar (offered since 2007) was proposed and developed by Professor Parhami. The main goal of the seminar is to expose students to challenging computer engineering problems, faced by practicing engineers and research scientists, in a motivating and entertaining way. The course is useful because CE students have very limited exposure to key concepts in their chosen major during their initial studies that involve mostly foundational, basic science, and general-education courses. Beginning with the AY 2013-2014, the seminar was renamed from ECE 1 to ECE 1B to accommodate another freshman seminar, ECE 1A, that exposes students to a roadmap for their studies at UCSB, their career choices, and leading-edge research topics. During fall 2016 and fall 2018, a similar freshman seminar, INT 94TN, was offered at the campus level to introduce science and technology topics to students from different (non-science/engineering) disciplines.
Offering of ECE 1B in spring 2021
Offering of ECE 1B in spring 2020
Offering of ECE 1B in spring 2019
Offering of ECE 1B in spring 2018
Offering of ECE 1B in spring 2017
Offering of ECE 1B in spring 2016 (PDF file)
Offering of ECE 1B in spring 2015 (PDF file)
Offering of ECE 1B in spring 2014 (PDF file)
Offering of ECE 1 in spring 2013 (PDF file)
Offering of ECE 1 in spring 2012 (PDF file)
Offering of ECE 1 in spring 2011 (PDF file)
Offering of ECE 1 in spring 2010 (PDF file)
Offering of ECE 1 in spring 2009 (PDF file)
Offerings of ECE 1 in 2007 and 2008 (PDF file)