Monday and Wednesday 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM, ECS 022

 

Course Information

 Instructor and TA Contact Information

 Course Syllabus

 Grade structure and policy

 Lecture notes

 Homework assignments

 Programming Exercises

 Interesting Links



Course Instructor

Dr. Mohamed Younis

Office: ECS 233-D

E-mail: younis@cs.umbc.edu

URL:    http://www.cs.umbc.edu/~younis

Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 4:15 PM - 5:15 PM 

Research interest:

Real-time systems, Fault tolerant computing, Compiler-based analysis, Operating systems, Tool support for embedded systems, Wireless Communication Networks

Teaching assistant

Mr. Wenze Xi

Office: ECS 002

E-mail: wxi1@csee.umbc.edu 

Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 10:00 AM -11:00 AM

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Course Syllabus

Objective:

This course covers the basics of computer organization with emphasis on the lower level abstraction of a computer system including digital logic, instruction set and assembly language programming. Topics includes data representation, logic gates, simplification of logical expressions, design and analysis of simple combinational circuit such as decoders and multiplexers, flip-flops and registers, design and analysis of simple synchronous sequential circuit, random-access and read-only memories, instruction set architecture and programming in assembly language. The Intel 80386 instruction set is used as a case study with programming experience in the Linux environment. 

Prerequisites:

1. Computer Science II  (CMSC 202) 

2. Discrete Structures    (CMSC 203)

Reference Books:

	Principles of Computer Architecture, 1/e, 2000 Miles Murdocca, Rutgers University Vincent P. Heuring, University of Colorado, Boulder Prentice Hall,  ISBN 0-201-43664-7
	Linux Assembly Language Programming, 2001 Bob Neveln, Widener University Prentice Hall PTR,  ISBN 0-13-087940-1

• Components of a Computer System (Processor, Memory, Input/Output)

• The Von Neuman Model
• The system bus Model
• Levels of abstraction

• Introduction to number systems

• Number systems conversion
• Representation of binary numbers
• Binary arithmetic

• Overview of the ISA abstraction
• Data types
• Instruction formats
• Addressing Modes
• Instruction types

• Programming with Assembly language 
• The assembly process 
• Linking and loading
• Register-level debugging
• Case study: Intel 80386 

• Truth tables
• Canonical forms and switching equations
• Simplification approaches 
• Examples: decoders, encoder, multiplexers, adders, etc.

• Memory devices (Flip-flops, registers etc.)
• State Machine Notation
• State transition table
• Synchronous Sequential Circuits 
• Design of Random Access Memory
• ROM, PROM and EPROM

Course work	Grade distribution
Programming Exercises	20%
Homework Assignments	30%
Midterm Examination	25%
Final Examination	25%

• 4 programming exercises will be assigned. The grade distribution is 4%, 4%, 4% and 8% respectively. 

• 6 homework assignments will be given. Each assignment contributes 5% to the final grade. Some of the assignments involve using a simulator for digital circuits.

• No late submission of homework assignments and programming exercises will be accepted.

• Exams are closed-book and closed-notes. The midterm is scheduled .

• UMBC rules apply to cheating/copying. You must do your own work and not copy from anyone else.

• Copying/cheating will result in a minimum punishment of a zero grade.  

Course grade	Range
A	90% - 100%
B	80% - 89.9%
C	70% - 79.9%
D	60% - 69.9%

Lecture	Date	Subject
1	January 27, 2003	Introduction and overview
2	January 29, 2003	Data Representation
3	February 3, 2003	Binary Arithmetic
4	February 5, 2003	Floating Point Representation
5	February 10, 2003	Assembly Programming Model
6	February 12, 2003	80386 machine organization
7	February 17, 2003	No Class
8	February 19, 2003	No Class
9	February 24, 2003	80386 Assembly Instructions
10	February 26, 2003	80386 Assembly Instructions (Cont.)
11	March 3, 2003	Machine Language
12	March 5, 2003	Memory Addressing
13	March 10, 2003	Memory Addressing (Cont.)
14	March 12, 2003	Stack Operations and Subroutines
15	March 17, 2003	Linux Memory Model
16	March 19, 2003	Midterm examination
17	March 31, 2003	Processor Interrupts
18	April 2, 2003	Compilation and Linking + Introduction to Logic Circuits
19	April 7, 2003	Circuit Implementation of Gates
20	April 9, 2003	Implementation of Logic Functions
21	April 14, 2003	Designing with Digital Components
22	April 16, 2003	Reduction of Combinational Logic
23	April 21, 2003	Optimizing Combinational Circuits
24	April 23, 2003	Introduction to Sequential Circuits
25	April 28, 2003	Flip Flops
26	April 30, 2003	Finite State Machines
27	May 5, 2003	Designing Finite State Machines
28	May 7, 2003	Optimization of FSM Design
29	May 12, 2003	Memory
30	May 19, 2003	Final Exam 1:00 PM -- 3:00 PM

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Homework Assignments

Assignment	Date Out	Due Date
Assignment #1	January 29, 2003	February 5, 2003
Assignment #2	February 5, 2003	February 17, 2003
Assignment #3	April 9, 2003	April 16, 2003
Assignment #4	April 16, 2003	April 23, 2003
Assignment #5	April 23, 2003	April 30, 2003
Assignment #6	April 30, 2003	May 7, 2003

 

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Programming Exercises

Exercise	Date Out	Due Date
Exercise #1	February 24, 2003	March 5, 2003
Exercise #2	March 5, 2003	March 14, 2003
Exercise #3	March 12, 2003	March 19, 2003
Exercise #4	March 19, 2003	April 9, 2003

 

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Interesting Links

• Dr. Richard Change CMSC 313 class page
• Digsim information page (Dr. Chang)
• Help with the submit command
• Murdocca & Heuring Textbook Site
• NASM on linux.gl.umbc.edu
• NASM documentation in HTML, PDF, Postscript, RTF and plain text

• Official NASM site

• Using gdb for Assembly Language Debugging
• System Calls in Linux Assembly
• C Function Call Conventions and the Stack

• A programmer's guide to Linux Assembly Programming

• IA-32 Intel Architecture Software Developer's Manual. Dr. Chang's copy for faster download:

  1. Volume 1: Basic Architecture (4,078 kbytes)
  2. Volume 2: Instruction Set Reference (6,853 kbytes)
  3. Volume 3: System Programming Guide (6,494 kbytes)
• DigSim Information