CS 271: Computer Architecture and Assembly Language (Winter 2013)

Announcements
Important dates
Lecture slides
Assignments
Tools and links
Course details
Contact info and office hours
Grading and homework policies

Announcements

Important announcements and changes to this page will be noted here. Please check back regularly!

Mar 11 — Programming Assignment 4 deadline extended to Fri, Mar 15.
Mar 6 — Programming Assignment 4 posted.
Mar 4 — Programming Assignment 3 deadline extended to Wed, Mar 6.
Feb 19 — Programming Assignment 3 posted.
Feb 18 —
Midterm #2 date changed to Wed, Feb 27!
Feb 6 — Programming Assignment 2 posted.
Jan 23 — Programming Assignment 1 posted. Also the
Midterm dates
have been added below.
Jan 11 — Written Homework 1 posted.
Jan 8 — The course mailing list is online! The address is slightly different than previously listed: cs271-w13@engr.orst.edu

Important dates

The dates of the midterm exams and assignment deadlines will be added to this list as the course develops.

Fri, Jan 18 — Homework 1 due (in class)
Mon, Jan 21 — No class! MLK Jr. Day
Wed, Jan 30 — Programming Assignment 1 due (via TEACH)
Mon, Feb 4 — Midterm #1
Wed, Feb 13 — Programming Assignment 2 due (via TEACH)
Wed, Feb 27 — Midterm #2
Fri, Mar 1 — No class! (I'm out of town)
Wed, Mar 6 — Programming Assignment 3 due (via TEACH)
Fri, Mar 15 — Programming Assignment 4 due (via TEACH)
Tues, Mar 19, Noon-2pm — Final exam

Slides from the lectures are posted below, usually just before class. I will continue to update the slides for each stage of the course until we are done with that stage.
Toggle outlines ← click to show/hide a listing of the contents of each set of slides.

Date	Title			Additional files
Jan 7	Course Overview	[pdf]
	Course logistics What is this course about? What is the scope? What is a computer architecture? What is an assembly language? Learning objectives
Jan 9–14	Data Representation	[pdf]	(updated: Jan 18)
	Internal vs. external representations Representing the natural numbers Binary number system Binary arithmetic Hexadecimal and base-N number systems Fixed-size integer representations Representing negative numbers Big endian vs. little endian
Jan 14–16	Intro to MIPS Architecture	[pdf]	(updated: Jan 18)
	Overview of the MIPS architecture What is a computer architecture? Fetch-decode-execute cycle Datapath and control unit Components of the MIPS architecture Memory Other components of the datapath Control unit
Jan 18	More Data Representation	[pdf]
	Some more comments on integers Carry out vs. overflow Identifying negative integers Representing characters and strings ASCII encoding Strings in MIPS and endianness
Jan 23–25	Intro to MIPS Assembly	[pdf]	(updated: Jan 25)	Hello.asm, Decls.asm, Add3.asm, SubWord.asm, Parrot.asm
	Overview of assembly programming MARS tutorial MIPS assembly syntax Role of pseudocode Some simple instructions Integer logic and arithmetic Manipulating register values Interacting with data memory Declaring constants and variables Reading and writing Performing input and output Memory-mapped I/O, role of the OS Using the systemcall interface
Jan 28–30	Algorithms in Assembly (Pt. 1)	[pdf]	(updated: Feb 6)
	Effective documentation Arithmetic and logical expressions Compositionality Sequentializing complex expressions Bitwise vs. logical operations
Feb 1	Midterm #1 Review	[pdf]	(updated: Feb 3)
	Structure of midterm Example problems and exercises
Feb 6–15	Algorithms in Assembly (Pt. 2)	[pdf]	(updated: Feb 13)	Parrot.asm, Circle.asm, JokeIdx.asm, JokeAddr.asm, ReverseIdx.asm, ReverseAddr.asm, Switch.asm
	Reading strings into memory Jumps and conditional branches Branching control structures If-then-else and if-then statements Looping control structures Do-while, while, and for loops Break and continue, indefinite loops Arrays For-each loop Switch statement
Feb 18–22	Procedure Calls (Pt. 1)	[pdf]	(updated: Feb 22)	ProcJoke.asm
	Intro to procedure calls Caller vs. callee Procedure call basics Calling conventions The stack Interacting with the stack Structure of a stack frame Subroutine linkage
Feb 25	Midterm #2 Review	[pdf]
	Structure of midterm Example problems and exercises
Mar 4–6	Procedure Calls (Pt. 2)	[pdf]	(updated: Mar 6)	FactRec.asm, FactMemo.asm, FunPointers.asm
	Recursion Memoization Function pointers Calling conventions review
Mar 8–13	Machine Code	[pdf]	(updated: Mar 13)	AbsVsRel.asm
	What is machine code? RISC vs. CISC MIPS instruction formats Assembling basic instructions R-type instructions I-type instructions J-type instructions Macro instructions
Mar 15	Pipelining and Final Review	[pdf]
	Pipelined execution What is a pipeline? MIPS pipeline Hazards Review for final Overview of final More practice assembling

Assignments

Written Homework 1 (due: Jan 18)
Programming Assignment 1 (due: Jan 30)
Programming Assignment 2 (due: Feb 13)
Programming Assignment 3 (due: Mar 6)
Programming Assignment 4 (due: Mar 15)

Tools and links

MARS MIPS Assembler and Runtime Simulator — This is the tool you will be using to complete your programming assignments. It provides a MIPS assembler and a simulator of the MIPS architecture. We'll do a brief MARS tutorial in class.

Other useful MIPS resources:

Wikipedia page on MIPS architecture
MIPS corporate web page — Has very thorough programmer guides and some useful quick references. Unfortunately requires signing up for a (free) account to download most of the files.

Course details

Lectures:	Strand Agriculture Hall (STAG) 203
	MWF 3:00-3:50 pm
Mailing list:	cs271-w13@engr.orst.edu
Unofficial textbook:	Robert Britton, MIPS Assembly Language Programming

Contact info and office hours

Instructor	Eric Walkingshaw
	walkiner@eecs.oregonstate.edu
Office hours	Mon: Noon – 2pm
(KEC 3093)	Wed: 4pm – 5pm

Teaching Asst	Yaofei Feng
	fengy@engr.oregonstate.edu
Office hours	Tues: 9am – 11am
(KEC Atrium)	Thurs: 4pm – 5pm

Grading and homework policies

Grades will be computed using the following weights. (This is still subject to change as the course develops.)

10% – written homework
30% – programming assignments
30% – midterms (2 x 15% each)
30% – final exam

Scores for individual tests and assignments may be curved upward if the results suggest this is necessary, but never downward.

For written homework and programming assignments:

Discussion is encouraged!
However, each student should submit their own final work.
You should understand fully the work you submit, and be able to reproduce it if necessary.
Remember, the goal of homework is to help you learn the material, so don't cheat yourself out of that!
Please list the names of any students you collaborate with in your final submission.

Last updated: Mar 15, 2013

CS 271: Computer Architecture and Assembly Language (Winter 2013)

Contents