learning in ece 156a,b

Learning in ECE 156A,B

A Brief Summary

Li-C. Wang, ECE, UCSB

Before we start …• This course (ECE156A) is an entry point

to begin an understanding on how design is done in the real world

• Verilog is just a tool to start

• I hope to teach you more about what’s going on in the real world– But if your scope is focused on only exam

questions and HWs, you will find half of the lecture materials boring and useless


All About Handling The “Complexity”

• Design and manufacturing of semiconductor products are very complex processes– Design methodologies– Manufacturing methodologies

• All knowledge are to overcome complexity

• A good engineer has effective ways to overcome complexity in a problem– Yet, complex problem usually doesn’t require

complex solution


Two Scientific Thinkings• Realists – The results of scientific

discovery are real laws in nature– Find the fundamental laws governing the

complexity we see

• Instrumentalists – The results of scientific discovery are instruments for making good prediction. The actual laws in nature can be very different from the ones discovered– Find ways to predict the behavior we

observe, without understanding the laws behind Li-C. Wang, ECE, UCSB

Two fundamental approaches• Deduction

– Moving from general to particular• Eg. Learn theories and algorithms, apply to solve

complex problems• Eg. Develop theories, models, and algorithms, and

apply them to overcome the complexity– The approach in the past 40 years

• Induction (Engineering)– Moving from particular to general

• Eg. Learn from the behavior, find a solution to deal with the behavior

• Eg. Learn from multiple behaviors, generalize a solution to deal with a class of behaviors

– The problem to face in the next 10 years


Observation• In the past 40 years, design and

manufacturing processes are dominated by the thinking of deduction– Develop the theories, models first– Work well when the complexity is low

• In the next 10 years, the processes will mostly be dominated by induction methodologies– Too difficult to find theories and models

behind complex phenomenon we encounter



Three Types of Skill

• In the engineering world, there are three types of skill– Don’t have implementation skills -> marketing– Don’t have domain knowledge -> solving a wrong

problem– Don’t have theoretical sense -> re-inventing the wheel

Implementationskills (programming)

Theoreticalsense

Applicationdomain

knowledgeExperience

Self-drive

Knowing the limits

How to learn the three skills?• Implementation skill

– Basic constructs can be taught– Skill to implement cannot be taught– Depend on self motivation and learning

• Theoretical sense– Theories and concepts can be taught

• There are only a few useful ones– Application of theories and concepts cannot be taught – It

is based on experience

• Application domain knowledge– Facts and phenomenon can be described– Empirical judgments are hard to teach



Lectures• In addition to Verilog, I also talk about

“application domain knowledge”

• Some that you can learn here are hard to get by self-study (and also most irrelevant to your grade)– Trends (facts and phenomenon)– Experience

• You can always learn more by self-studying– Use the Internet– Practice your Verilog skills– Read papers and other books


10 Things We Should Learn(ECE 156A -> ECE 156B)

My Informal lecture


10. Design means “constrained optimization”


9. Design is based on models and models are not reality and they are never 100% correct


8. No perfect design; you just need to be better than your competitor


7. It is all about efficiently handling the complexity


6. More important to put yourself into the right vision and perspective


5. When searching for a solution in a complex space, it is more effective to know where

you don’t have a solution


4.Understand your problem; If you understand it well, the solution will come

to you


3. When something does not make an intuitive sense to you, it probably does not make sense


2. All practical answers are simple; Only simple answers are practical


1. A good engineer is always honest to the truth


Finally, there is no spoon(click on the link below)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=dzm8kTIj_0M&vq=small

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=dzm8kTIj_0M&vq=small

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=dzm8kTIj_0M&vq=small


Do not try to solve a difficult problemThat is impossible

What truth? --- There is no problem

Then, you will see …it is not the problem that you solve

It is only yourself!

Instead … only try to realize the truth …

learning in ece 156a,b

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