Introduction to Computer Systems

Comp 264-002, Spring 2019

MWF, 11:30-12:20, now in Cuneo 218 (was in Mundelein 606)

Text: Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, by Randal Bryant and David O'Hallaron, Pearson, 3rd Edition, 2015. ISBN 978-0-13-409266-9.

There will be a midterm and a final exam. The midterm is Friday, March 15. The final is Monday, April 29, at 1:00 pm. Study guides for each will be available on Sakai.

There will be regular programming assignments and labs. The programming will be worth about 30-35% of your grade, with the midterm and final making up 65-70%. The final will be worth a little more than the midterm.

In Comp 264 we will study the following:

Basics of programming in the C language
Introduction to computer hardware and architecture

machine code
branch prediction
the pros and cons of garbage collection
cache memory
smashing the stack
what else is out there?
DRAM refresh (I haven't gotten this one to work yet)

How hardware and architecture affect software

Weekly Notes

Week 1, Jan 14	Week 2, Jan 23
Week 3, Jan 28	Week 4, Feb 4
Week 5, Feb 11	Week 6, Feb 18
Week 7, Feb 25	March 4: Spring Break
Week 8, March 11	Week 9, March 18
Week 10, March 25	Week 11, April 1
Week 12, April 8	Week 13, April 15 (no class 4/19)
Week 14, April 24 (no class 4/22)	Final exam: Mon, Apr 29, 1:00-3:00

Topic notes

Intro to C programming

Cache Memory

Linking and Loading

My general course groundrules are here.