An interactive systemc course featuring real-time online compiling and analysis

An interactive tutorial is a very efficient way to teach a rich programming language to a large group of e.g. graduate students in the field of IC design. We are creating a novel online course for SystemC that provides real-time compiling and result analysis functions, using server-side tools exclusively. The tutorial is called SCOTT (SystemC Online Tutorial and Training) and represents an advancement of our previously established interactive course on VHDL. The users following the SCOTT course submit their SystemC code over a standard web browser and get instant feedback from the tutorial system, including error description, context-sensitive hints, proposals for improvement, and simulation results. In this contribution, we will point out the emerging importance of teaching SystemC, discuss the functionality of our interactive tutorial system and illustrate the methodology by practical examples.