INFS 515 - Computer Organization
[Credits: 3], Fall 2009
Computer hardware architecture
concepts including number systems,
machine representation of numbers, instruction set formats, addressing
techniques, memory organization, internal processor structure and
operation. Symbolic assembly language, fundamental
operating systems
concepts: process synchronization and scheduling, interprocess
communication, memory management, virtual memory, deadlocks, file I/O
and disk management, LINUX and open source operating system case
studies.
Prerequisites: Undergraduate
courses or equivalent knowledge in structured programming in a
high-level language.
The course includes but is not limited to the following topics:
Computer hardware architecture concepts include number systems;
Machine representation of numbers;
Instruction set formats;
Addressing techniques, memory organization,
Internal processor structure and operation;
Symbolic assembly language.
Process synchronization and scheduling,
Inter-process communication,
Memory management,
Virtual memory,
Deadlocks,
File I/O and disk management,
Additional computer architecture and OS topics as time permits
Textbooks:
Required: The Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture, 2nd Edition, Linda Null and Julia Lobur, Jones and Barlett Publishers, 2006, ISBN 10:0-7637-3769-0
Required: Operating Systems, Internals and Design Principles, 6th Edition, William Stallings, Prentice-Hall, 2009, ISBN-10: 01360006329
Course dates: Monday August 31 through Monday December 14 Location: Robinson B102 Meeting day & time:
Mondays, 7:20pm to 10:00pm. Please arrive at class on time. We will
start on time, have a short break in the middle of each class session,
and will finish by 10:00pm.
Blackboard:http://courses.gmu.edu All assignments, class announcements, schedules, files and presentations will use Blackboard
Emails: hfoxwell@cox.net In the Subject line of your email, use the prefix INFS515
For example: Subject: INFS515: Question about Homework #1
Office location: Engineering Building, Room 4300 (see administrator)
Office hours: By appointment.
Phone: 703-204-4193
Teaching Assistant (TA): TBD
Grading Policy
Student grades will be determined based on class participation, homework assignments, research papers, and final exam:
Grade Component
Weight
Class Participation (in class, online discussions)
10%
Homeworks (programs, problems)
20%
Research Paper 1
25%
Research Paper 2
25%
Final Exam
20%
Grading Guidelines: Some assignment components are evaluated subjectively
A: consistentlyabove and beyond the course/assignment requirements
B: meets and occasionally exceeds the course/assignment requirements
C: minimally meets the course/assignment requirements
F: fails to meet the course/assignment requirements
Some assignment components are evaluated objectively:
A : 95-100% A- : 90-95% B+ : 85-90% B : 80-85% C : 70-80%
Honor Code
All work performed in this course will be subject to GMU's Honor Code.
Students are expected to do their own work in the course unless a group
project is approved by the instructor. In papers and project reports,
students are expected to write in their own words, rather than
cutting-and-pasting from sources found on the Internet. When you do use
material from books, articles, and the Web, enclose the material in
quotes and provide a reference. If a paragraph is used then it should
be indented in the text (both left and right margins). [See Format
below]
Assignments
Format
PDF preferred; plain text,
HTML, StarOffice/OpenOffice, Open Document Format, MS format documents
also accepted, but the instructor will have to convert them...best to
do the PDF conversion yourself. Upload all assignments to Blackboard.
Papers should be formatted double-space, 10 or 12 point font, 1"
margins. Use Chicago Manual of Style for guidance on citation style, usage, etc. (Don't buy the big CMS. See the smaller A Manual for Writers by Kate Turabian).
Writing Style
When grading papers and assignments, I generally assign 40% to the
quality and thoroughness of the description, discussion, or explanation
of the specific topic; examples and diagrams to clarify the text are
strongly encouraged. Another 40% is assigned for the discussion of
relevance to course concepts and technologies. That is, the paper
must make clear its relevance to the course material. The final 20% relates to
the quality and proper use of references. Reference other work within
the text of your paper, and list the references at the end of the paper
in a bibliography. Proper references are essential for crediting the
work of others, and to help your readers locate the referenced
material. See cs.gmu.edu/~menasce/papers/cmg00.pdf for one example of how to cite and list references.
Assume that the audience for your paper or assignment is an intelligent
reader with some computer knowledge but who is not familiar with your specific
paper topic.
Do not use slang or colloquialisms; some readers whose first
language is not English may not understand phrases such as "the system
was wedged", or "the program went for a toss"
Do not misuse terms nor use terms whose meanings are not clear, like "increased exponentially", or "steep learning curve"
Check your grammar and spelling; if you need help expressing
yourself, get help from GMU's Writing Center at
http://writingcenter.gmu.edu Read the paper aloud to yourself or
to a friend to help you indentify misused words and phrases.
Avoid jargon. Explain and reference concepts critical to your topic.
Expand NTAs [Non-Trivial Abbreviations] upon first use
When an assignment says "Write a program in C or Assembler that
(whatever)", you must provide the source code, compile instructions,
relevant comments within the code, listing and explanation of the
output.
Student programming projects must adhere to the CS Honor Code.
There a several Computer Labs available for general use by IT&E
students, which are located on the Fairfax campus. For more
information go to the web site at http://ite.gmu.edu/labs.
Course programming environment for lectures & assignments will be Linux: RHEL5, Fedora, CentOS, etc, and OpenSolaris 2009.06
You can set these up in a variety of ways: directly, multi-boot, or as guest VMs using VirtualBox or other virtualization environments.
Class Participation:
Contribute to the in-class discussions, participate in online
discussion topics posted on Blackboard. Some discussion topics
may be graded.
Other Notes:
There will be lots of reading assignments along with the assumption that you have actually read them.
Lectures will augment reading material; lecture material will be asked about on homeworks and on final exam.
Lecture slides (from textbook authors and from instructor's additional material) will be posted on Blackboard.
We will focus on why concepts are important and relevant to modern and future computing.
Some material you may already know (good! that's
review!) Some material you may have learned before and forgotten
(good! you'll be reminded) Some material you may know more
than instructor (good! share it!)
Turn cell phones to silent mode; if you need to make a call,
leave the classroom. If you need to text, check emails, or other
activity, do not disturb other students
Call or email the instructor if you anticipate being late or absent
Credit for this course cannot be applied
to a graduate degree in the Volgenau School or the BS degree in
computer science.
Personal Safety and Security: The Mason Alert system provides
emergency information of various sorts. Students can sign up for
it by visiting the website https://alert.gmu.edu.
Students are also reminded that an emergency poster exists in each
classroom explaining what to do in the event of crises and that further
information about emergency procedures exists on http://www.gmu.edu/service/cert.