COSC 065 Hardware Systems

Spring 2006



Lectures:
MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM Cudahy 412
Office Hours:
Course instructor
  Prof. Dennis Brylow   Mon 3:00PM - 4:00PM Cudahy 380
Mon 7:00PM - 8:00PM Cudahy 380
Wed 3:00PM - 4:00PM Cudahy 380
Fri 11:00AM - 12:00PM Cudahy 380

Textbook:
Essentials of Computer Architecture. Douglas Comer. Prentice-Hall
Readings will be regularly assigned from the textbook.    Lectures will assume that students have already read the assigned chapters.   In addition, some of the written homework problems may be assigned out of the book.   Some of these problems also make excellent exam questions.

Course Outcomes:
Upon completing this course, students will be able to:
  • Understand the principles underlying computer hardware systems, and appreciate how these principles shape software;
  • Define and describe the purpose of major components in modern computer hardware, and understand how these components work together to accomplish computing;
  • Read and write assembly languages for two common computer processors, and employ these assembly languages to solve programming problems.

  • Grading Policy:
    Homework 60%
    Pop Quizzes 5%
    Exam #1 10%
    Exam #2 10%
    Exam #3 15%
  • Students must pass BOTH the exam portion of the grade AND and homework assignment portion of the grade to pass the course overall.
  • Assignments are to be completed individually, except when specifically noted otherwise. You may discuss course topics with your collegues, but written work and programmed code is not to be shared.
  • Academic dishonesty (claiming another person's work as your own) will not be tolerated. Infractions will result in immediate failure of the course, and referral to the Dean's office.
  • If you are not certain what constitutes fair play and what will be considered academic dishonesty, please ask the instructor.
  • Schedule:
    Week Topics Readings Demos Assignments
    01 Introduction, Digital Logic Ch 1,2
    02 Digital Logic Ch 3 #1 Digital Logic
    03 Data Representation Ch 4 #2 Representation
    04 Processors, Pipelines Ch 5 #3 Hex Dump
    05 Instruction Sets, RISC Ch 6 Exam #1
    06 Assembly Languages Ch 7 #4 Basic PPC
    07 Addressing Modes Ch 8 #5 Small PPC Assembly
    08 Activation Records Ch 9 #6 Activation Records
    Spring Break
    09 Memory and Storage Ch 10 #7 Large PPC Assembly
    10 Virtual Memory Ch 11 Exam #2
    11 Virtual Memory Ch 12 #8 Basic Intel
    12 CISC
    Easter Break
    Ch 13 13 Caches Ch 14
    14 I/O, Buses Ch 15 #9 Large Intel
    15 Advanced Topics Ch 16
    Final Exam #3
    The instructor reserves the right to adjust this schedule as necessary.

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