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Objectives | Staff&Contact Information | Where&When | Textbook | Grading | Policies | Schedule&Assignments
What this course is about
The goal of CS 2011 is to provide students with
knowledge about the structure and behavior of digital
computers at several levels of abstraction, and to give
students experience in solving problems using an assembly
language. Recommended background and course topics are listed
in the
WPI undergraduate catalog course description
Mapping of outcomes to CS Department Outcomes
Instructor: Glynis Hamel (GH)
Teaching Assistant: Choong-Soo Lee (CL), Feng Li (FL), Jeff Zhou (JZ)
Senior Assistant: Joseph Politz (JP)
(Note: TA and SA office hours are held in FL A22 (Fuller basement). Glynis Hamel's office hours are held in FL 132.)
| Day/Time | 10:00 | 11:00 | 12:00 | 1:00 | 2:00 | 3:00 | 4:00 | 5:00 | 6:00 | 7:00 | 8:00 |
| Monday | GH | CL | CL | FL | FL | ||||||
| Tuesday | JZ | JZ | GH | JP | JP | ||||||
| Wednesday | JZ | JZ | |||||||||
| Thursday | GH | CL | CL | JP | JP | FL | FL | ||||
| Friday | GH |
If you have a question regarding your grades in the course, please send email to cs2011-staff *at* cs.wpi.edu. Mail sent to this address goes to the instructor and to the TA. Include your section number in all correspondence.
The instructor's email address is ghamel *at* cs.wpi.edu. Please restrict your use of my personal email address to issues of a confidential nature. You will get a quicker response if you post your questions to the class discussion board.
| Section | Time | Location | Assistants |
| D01 | 9 - 9:50am | AK 120d | JP, FL |
| D02 | 10-10:50am | AK 120d | JP, JZ |
| D03 | 11:00-11:50am | AK 120d | JP, JZ |
| D05 | 12:00-12:50pm | AK 120d | JP, CL |
The first lab is scheduled for March 26.
Textbook, Software, and Authors' Website
Textbook (required): Patt, Yale N., and Sanjay J. Patel, Introduction to Computing Systems: From
Bits & Gates to C & Beyond,
2nd edition, McGraw-Hill Publishers, 2003. A copy of the textbook is on
reserve at the library. If you buy a used textbook, make sure you buy
the 2nd edition.
Also on reserve at the library is Structured Computer Organization by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. This excellent book will be especially helpful if you want to delve more deeply into digital logic (Chapter 3) or assembly language and assemblers (Chapter 7).
Software: We will be using the LC-3 simulator, which can be downloaded from the authors' website.
Exams are closed-book, closed-notes. You may bring in one sheet of notes (one paper, 8.5" x 11.5", both sides) to each exam. You may not use any computers, calculators, cellphones, or other electronic devices during the exams.
There are no makeups for exams. Absence from an exam will be excused only for medical or emergency reasons. A note from your doctor or from the Office of Academic Advising will be required. In such cases your final grade will be recorded as Incomplete and you will be allowed to take a makeup exam the next time the course is offered.
Several times during the term we will take a few minutes of class time for in-class group work. This will consist of one or two questions related to recently-covered lecture material or homework problems. Each group assignment will be graded as either credit (1) or no credit (0). There are no makeups for group assignments.
The total of your best 10 lab grades/group assignment grades will be added to your final average to account for 10% of your final grade.
Academic Honesty Policy
Please read WPI's Academic
Honesty Policy.
If you receive general help from another student or an outside source, that student or source must be acknowledged in the documentation accompanying your submitted work.
Cheating will not be tolerated. If you are unsure whether a given activity would constitute cheating, ask the instructor. Violations of the Academic Honesty Policy can result in an NR for the course, and violators will be subject to the procedures outlined in section 5 of the WPI Judicial Policy.
Schedule
Note: the instructor reserves the right to change the order of topics
or the dates of the exams, if necessary.
| Week | Reading | Topics | Assignments
|
| Mar 11-14 | Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Lecture 1 objectives Lecture 2 objectives Lecture 3 objectives |
Course overview
Numbering systems Representations of signed integers Floating point representation |
Homework 1 (due: Tuesday, 3/18) |
| Mar 17 -21 | Chapter 3
Lecture 4 objectives Lecture 5 objectives Lecture 6 objectives Lecture 7 objectives |
Boolean Logic
Logic gates Combinational circuits Karnaugh Maps Simplification of circuits Sequential circuits Sequential circuit animation Memory organization Machine state |
HW1 due Tuesday, 3/18 Homework 2 (due: Tuesday, 3/25) |
| Mar 24-28 | Chapter 4, Chapter 5
Lecture 8 objectives Lecture 9 objectives Lecture 10 objectives Lecture 11 objectives |
Instruction execution cycle
Machine code instructions Microprogramming LC-3 ISA - operate instructions LC-3 ISA - data movement instructions Addressing modes LC-3 ISA - control instructions |
HW2 due Tuesday, Mar 25
Lab 1, Wed 3/26 Homework 3, Part 1 (due: Tuesday, April 1) |
| Mar 31 - Apr 4 | Chapter 6, 7.1 - 7.2
Lecture 12 objectives Lecture 13 - Exam review/catch up Sample Exam 1 (pdf file) Lecture 14 - Exam date Lecture 15 objectives |
Exam 1 (April 3)
TRAP and JMP instructions High-level constructs Assembly Language and pseudo-ops |
HW3 (Part1) due Tuesday, 4/1
Homework 3, Part 2 (due: Tuesday, Apr 8) Lab 2, Wed 4/2 |
| Apr 7-11 | Chapter 7.3 - 7.4, 8.1 - 8.4
Lecture 16 objectives Lecture 17 objectives Lecture 18 objectives Lecture 19 objectives Program used to illustrate trap processing |
Subroutines
Device-level I/O Polling Trap routines The assembly process External assembly, linking |
HW3 (Part2) due Tuesday, 4/8
Lab 3, Wed, 4/9 Homework 4 (due: Thursday, April 17) |
| Apr 14-18 | Chapter 9, 10, 14.3, 8.5
Lecture 20 objectives Lecture 21 objectives Lecture 22 objectives |
Stack
Binary-to-ASCII Parameter Passing Recursion - example Introduction to interrupts |
HW4 due Homework 5 (due: Tuesday, April 22) Lab 4, Wed, 4/16 |
| Apr 21-25 | Appendix B
Lecture 23 objectives Lecture 24 objectives Lecture 25 objectives Lecture 26 objectives |
Interrupt processing x86 architecture x86 addressing 8086 stack, activation records |
HW5 due Tuesday, 4/22
Homework 6 (due Tuesday, April 29) |
| Apr 28 - 29 |
Sample Exam 2 (pdf)
Lecture 27 - Exam Review Lecture 28 - Exam date |
Exam 2 (April 29) Wrap-up, final HW due |
HW6 due Tuesday, 4/29 |

http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~cs2011/d08/index.html