CS 281-001 System Architecture I Syllabus

Course Description

Covers internal function and organization of digital computers, including instruction set design, machine and assembly language, computer arithmetic, ALU design, central processor organization and implementation. Also covered are interpreters, assemblers, linkers, and loaders.

Course Objective

To obtain an understanding of how a computer is organized and how it works. To develop a model of how a program executes on a computer.
To be able to understand an assembly language program. There will be some assignments involving assembly language programming; however, the objective is to understand the instruction set of a machine and how a program executes on a computer, not to be able to write full length assembly language programs.

Prerequisites

ECE-C 211, CS172

Instructor

Jeremy Johnson

Office: 271 Korman Center
phone: 895-2893
e-mail: jjohnson@mcs.drexel.edu
office hours: MW 1-3 and T 4-6.
 

Meeting Time

MW 3:00-4:50 in Matheson 307

Textbook

David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface, Second Edition, Morgan Kaufman Publishers, 1997.

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Topics

1. Computer Abstractions (Chapter 1)
2. Review of Digital Circuits and Logic Design (Appendix B)
3. History of Computers (Chapter 1)
4. Instructions: Language of the Machine (Chapter 3)
5. Assembly Language Programming (Chapter 3 and Appendix A)
6. Assemblers, Linkers, and the SPIM Simulator (Appendix A)
7. Computer Arithmetic (Chapter 4)
8. The Processor: Datapath and Control (Chapter 5 and Appendix C)

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Grading

1. Written and Programming Assignments (five) 50% (10% each)
2. Midterm Exam 25%
3. Final Exam 25%