Introduction
With so many EE and CS classes at Berkeley, it is important that students know which classes best match their personal and career interests. This DeCal is offered to provide students with a broad survey of topics within EECS and a general sense of the courses and subfields within the major. We aim to cover each topic in totality, so no EE or CS experience is required.

Professor Sahai notes in his unofficial advice page, “Set yourself a goal of understanding some system from top to bottom before you graduate. For example, you might want to know how the entire process of downloading and listening to an MP3 or OGG file works. This can be a good tool for integrating knowledge across different courses.” Since taking every EECS course may be infeasible and inefficient under the current system, we would like to provide a cocktail-party level of understanding so students can make educated decisions about which classes to explore. Even if you never take an EECS class after this one, this DeCal will be worthwhile if you enjoy learning about a variety of topics.

Course Overview
This course will take students on a journey through YouTube starting from the browser request to the underlying circuitry and physics in computers. Each week will move lower on the Software/Hardware stack, with a deconstructive approach to software and a constructive approach towards hardware. After taking this course, students will have a fair understanding of every level of the EECS stack.

Sessions will consist of 2 hours of virtual instruction, including a mix of interactive labs/demonstrations and lecture. In addition, staff will plan to host talks by current researchers in applicable fields to provide deeper insight into various areas of research. The syllabus itself covers 12 weeks of instruction, including guest lectures by either faculty or a current researcher, lab tours, and other activities!

Assignments and Grading
To pass the course a total of ​17 points​ must be obtained by each student. Attendance and weekly homework submissions are worth 1 point each (there are 11 classes and 10 weekly assignments). There will also be a field trip and a final project, both of which are mandatory. For students who are unable to attend the field trip, there will be an alternative assignment.
Homework should be submitted on every week before class begins. These short written assignments are intended to reinforce the ideas presented in class, while being open-ended and rewarding. These assignments should not take many hours to complete.

Final Project
Students will need to submit an “overarching project” which will incorporate ideas spanning the entire semester.
Additional details about this project will be released as the semester continues.

Schedule
Classes are planned for Wednesday 6-8pm over Zoom.

Weekly topics and demos are subject to change.

Please fill out our short google form below! Please apply as soon as possible, applications will be processed on a first-come-first-serve basis with students being enrolled by attending the first lecture.