Introduction to Computer Architecture and Machine-Level Programming
| Lectures: | |||
| MWF 10 - 10:50 a.m., Gilman 0312 | |||
| Recitations: | |||
| Tuesday 9:00 - 9:50 a.m., Thursday 1:10 - 2:00 p.m., Pearson 108 | |||
Graded Course Work: Will consist of homework, frequent in-class activities, quizzes, and three exams. Weights for these will be provided later. In addition, a lab exam will be conducting during recitation in Pearson 108.
General Approach: Concepts in computer architecture and machine-level programming will be explained as much as possible through solutions of problems in lectures, in-class activities, and recitations. It is a good idea for you to regularly attend lectures and recitations.
Students with Disabilities: Iowa State University complies with the American with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Any student who may require an accommodation under such provisions should contact me as soon as possible and no later than the end of the first week of class or as soon as you become aware. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the Disability Resources (DR) office, located on the main floor of the Student Services Building, Room 1076, 515-294-6624. Please request that a Disability Resources staff send a SAAR form verifying your disability and specifying the accommodation you will need.
News Assignments Grades Syllabus Labs Tools Tutorial
August 17, 2009: Welcome to the 2009 fall semester of ComS 321. Please check back here frequently for course announcements, but also attend lecture regularly as there will be information provided in lecture that does not appear on this site.
August 17, 2009: There will be no recitations during the first week of class.
August 31, 2009: Scores up through Homework 1 have been posted on the Grades page. Scores are listed by the last four digits of your student ID's. Please verify your scores periodically and notify Matt immediately if you find a discrepency.
September 8, 2009: Homework 4 has been posted in the Assignments section and is due on Wednesday, September 16 in class.
September 15, 2009: The dates for the first two exams have been announced:
Exam 2: Friday, Oct. 23 – written component; Tu, Oct 20 and Thu, Oct 22 – Lab Exam during scheduled recitation
September 21, 2009: The first four lab assignments have been posted in the Lab Assignments section. Please carefully follow the directions for each and make sure that you submit your solutions by the dates and times posted.
September 28, 2009: Homework 5 has been posted in the Assignments section and is due on Monday, October 5 in class.
September 28, 2009: Scores up through Exam 1 and Activity 6 have been posted on the Grades page. Please verify your scores periodically and notify Matt immediately if you find a discrepency.
September 30, 2009: Homework 6 has been posted in the Assignments section and is due on Friday, October 9 in class.
October 8, 2009: The solution for the in class Activity 9 is available here
October 26, 2009: Lab 5 has been posted in the Lab Assignments section. It is due on Thursday, November 5 by 5:00pm.
October 29, 2009: The scores for Exam 2 have been posted on the Grades page. The average was 81.
November 6, 2009: Homework 8 has been posted in the Assignments section and is due on Wednesday, November 11 in class.
November 6, 2009: There will be a quiz in lecture on Monday, November 9 on Block Placement and Block Identification
November 16, 2009: Homework 9 has been posted in the Assignments section and is due on Wednesday, November 18 in class.
The labs for this class will help to reinforce your knowledge and understanding of MIPS assembly programming. They will be done on your own and will contain a short series of questions that you will answer and send your answers to the TA, Matt, at mpatitz@cs.iastate.edu. During the weeks while there are lab assignments, recitations will be held in the lab in 108 Pearson so students can work on them and ask any questions they may have. The schedule for when recitations will be in the lab is posted above, in the 'Recitations' section.
The lab assignments will be posted below. They all require the MIPS simulator PCSpim, which you can find more information about on the Tools page, to load, write, and execute simple assembly language programs. PCSpim is installed on the machines in Pearson 108, but please carefully read the instructions on the Tools page to ensure that you are using the correct version.
The labs can be done whenever it is convenient for students, either in the lab or from home (see the Tools page for instructions on how to run PCSpim from PC's other than those in the lab) as long as they are submitted by the specified deadlines.
Feel free to email Matt with any questions you have if you work on the labs on your own