Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-year-1-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2005/functional-programming-data-structures-and-algorithms-procedural-programming-and-digital-hardware/10/a/solution
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2005 Functional programming, data structures and algorithms, procedural programming, and digital hardware 10 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
A D flip-flop stores one bit. At its specified active clock edge, it samples and, after its clock-to-Q delay, makes equal to that sampled value. Between active clock edges it retains the stored value. The input must meet the setup and hold time requirements around the sampling edge; a level-sensitive latch would have different behavior.
For a finite-state sequential circuit, encode the present state in a bank of D flip-flops. Feed their outputs and the external inputs to combinational logic computing the next-state function , and connect those outputs to the flip-flop inputs. A common clock signal then performs the simultaneous updateOutput combinational logic computes for a Moore machine or for a Mealy machine. Since any finite next-state and output table is a Boolean function, it has a Boolean circuit implementation. Initialization specifies the starting state, and unused state encodings require either a recovery rule or an initialization assumption. The clock period must accommodate propagation through the D flip-flops and intervening combinational logic before the next sampling edge.
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