CSCI 322 - Computing Systems Organization

Spring 2020

Official Pandemic Revision

Course Overview:
This course is a study of the layers of abstraction composing the design of modern computing systems. Topics include numeric representation, digital logic, CPU design, machine and assembly language, the program stack, virtual machines, compilers, assemblers, memory management and device driver

At the end of the course, you will be expected to be able to:

Describe the hierarchy of abstractions that define a modern computer:
- Logic gates
- CPU
- Machine language
- Assembly language and assemblers
- Virtual machines
- High-level languages and compilers
- The Operating System
Understand and apply the basic boolean logical operators.
Create a digital circuit corresponding to a specification given in boolean logic.
Create a digital circuit capable of performing addition from boolean logic.
Create a digital circuit employing clocked memory components.
Describe how boolean logic, memory circuits, and a clock pulse interact to execute a machine language instruction.
Describe the relationship between an assembly language and its corresponding machine language.
Write a program in assembly language.
Create an assembler to translate an assembly language into machine language .
Given two programming languages, articulate a rationale as to why one of them ought to be considered higher-level (or lower-level) than the other.
Describe the role and major components of a compiler.
Describe how a operating system enables a programmer to access the computer's hardware.

Instructor:
Dr. Gabriel Ferrer
M.C. Reynolds 312
http://ozark.hendrix.edu/~ferrer/

Office Hours:
By appointment. To make an appointment with me, visit http://drferrer.youcanbook.me. From there, you can see my availability and select an appointment time.

Also, please feel free to stop by whenever my door is open.

Class Web Page: http://ozark.hendrix.edu/~ferrer/courses/322/s20/

Lecture Time: B1 (8:15-9:30 TR)

Final Exam Period: Wednesday, May 6, 2020, 2:00-5:00 pm

Required Textbook:
The Elements of Computing Systems, Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken, The MIT Press, 2005.
Textbook web page: www.nand2tetris.org

Grading:
There are a total of 1,000 points available over the course of the semester. The thresholds for earning each letter grade are as follows:

Letter grade	Points to achieve
A	900
B	800
C	700
D	600

Here are the semester's assignments and the associated points for each:

Assignment	Total Value
Project 1	40
Project 2	40
Project 3	40
Project 4	40
Project 5	40
Project 6	40
Project 7	40
Project 8a	20
Project 8b	40
Project 9	40
Project 10-11a	30
Project 10-11b	30
Project 10-11c	40
Project 10-11d	40
Project 12a	40
Project 12b	40
Midterm Exam	150
Final Exam Cancelled 10 free points 20 points per chapter completed	250

Building a simulated computer: Our textbook contains a series of 12 projects that, when completed, result in a complete simulated computer. We will begin by constructing a simulated CPU using logic gates. From there, we will build an assembler and compiler for creating programs. We will also create a very simple operating system.

Each project must be completed individually. Your experience of learning how a computer works depends directly on your independent completion of these assignments. The rules below are intended to make the parameters of collaboration clear.

You may:

Discuss the projects with other students.

You may not:

Read any solution to any project, whether from another student, found online, or from any other source.
Show your solution to any other student.
Give or receive help in debugging a project solution. Requests for debugging help must be directed to the professor.

Any violations of this policy will be referred to the Committee on Academic Integrity as a major violation, with a recommended sanction of failure in the course.

Deadlines: For each assignment, to earn full credit the assignment must be submitted to Moodle by 11:55 pm on the specified date. Any part of an assignment not submitted on time earns a maximum of 70% of the possible points. All assignments must be submitted by the start of the final exam period to receive credit.

Revised Deadline Policy: Full credit will be awarded starting with Chapter 9 for anything submitted prior Wednesday, May 13 at 5 pm. Deadlines are suggestions to indicate the pace at which you should aim for keeping up.

Accommodations: It is the policy of Hendrix College to accommodate students with disabilities, pursuant to federal and state law. Any student who needs accommodation in relation to a recognized disability should inform the instructor at the beginning of the course. In order to receive accommodations, students with disabilities are directed to contact Julie Brown in Academic Support Services at 501-505-2954.

Schedule: The anticipated schedule for the semester is below. The instructor reserves the right to alter the schedule as necessary during the semester. Unless noted otherwise, each project is due at the start of class.

Date	Day	Topic/Activity	Reading	Assignment Due
1/21	Tuesday	Introduction Boolean Logic	None	None
1/23	Thursday	Boolean Arithmetic	Chapters 1 and 2 Appendix A	None
1/24	(Friday)	None	None	Project 1
1/28	Tuesday	More Boolean Arithmetic Sequential Logic	Chapter 3	None
1/29	(Wednesday)	None	None	Project 2
1/30	Thursday	Sequential Logic	Chapter 3	None
2/3	(Monday)	None	None	Project 3
2/4	Tuesday	Machine Language	Chapter 4	None
2/6	Thursday	Hack Assembly Examples	None	None
2/10	(Monday)	None	None	Project 4
2/11	Tuesday	Computer Architecture	Chapter 5	None
2/13	Thursday	Computer Architecture	None	None
2/17	(Monday)	None	None	Project 5
2/18	Tuesday	Assembler	Chapter 6	None
2/20	Thursday	Assembler Review for Midterm	None	None
2/25	Tuesday	Midterm Exam	Chapters 1-6	None
2/26	(Wednesday)	None	None	Project 6
2/27	Thursday	Virtual Machine I: Stack Arithmetic	Chapter 7	None
3/3	Tuesday	Practice with Stack Arithmetic Memory Layout of Objects	None	None
3/4	(Wednesday)	None	None	Project 7
3/5	Thursday	Virtual Machine II: Program Control	Chapter 8	None
3/9	(Monday)	None	None	Project 8, part 1
3/10	Tuesday	Virtual Machine II: Program Control	None	None
3/11	(Wednesday)	None	None	Project 8, part 2
3/12	Thursday	High-Level Language ("Jack")	Chapter 9	None
3/17	Tuesday	Pandemic	None	None
3/19	Thursday	Pandemic	None	None
3/24	Tuesday	Spring Break	None	None
3/26	Thursday	Spring Break	None	None
3/30	(Monday)	None	None	Project 9: Concept
3/31	Tuesday		Discussion of Concepts Limitations of Jack	None
4/2	Thursday	Demonstrations	None	Project 9 Demo
4/3	(Friday)	None	None	Project 9 Demo feedback incorporated
4/7	Tuesday	Tokenizing Input	Chapter 10	None
4/9	Thursday	A Simple Compiler Jack to VM	None	None
4/10	(Friday)	None	None	Project 10 & 11: Tokenizer
4/14	Tuesday	Jack to VM	None	None
4/15	(Wednesday)	None	None	Project 10 & 11: Statements
4/16	Thursday	Conditionals and Loops	Chapter 11	None
4/20	(Monday)	None	None	Project 10 & 11: Conditionals and Loops
4/21	Tuesday	Classes and Arrays	None	None
4/23	Thursday	Classes and Arrays	None	None
4/27	(Monday)	None	None	Project 10 & 11: Classes and Arrays
4/28	Tuesday	Operating System	Chapter 12	None
4/30	Thursday	Operating System	None	None
5/4	(Monday)	None	None	Project 12: Part 1
5/6	Wednesday, 5 pm	None	None	Project 12: Part 2