Please send me e-mail and stay home if you have fever and other flu symptoms.
To reduce my effort in sending class announcements to those who are ill, I am introducing this new little web page section to note class announcements. Items will not remain on this page for the entire semester, but will instead will represent the current week's announcements.
Week of Nov 23
There will be no assigned textbook for this course, this semester. Use the provided writings and lecture notes (links below, within the Schedule), and listen in class for direction relating to readings from textbooks.
You will need access to information about programming in the C language. Most any textbook that introduces the C language (not C++) is acceptable, so if you already have a book, use it. If you do not already have a book, please purchase a copy of
The C Programming Language
Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie
Second Edition
You will find this book relevant and useful in both further coursework and in industry. The university bookstore will not have many copies, and they will not be in the textbook section. In today's world, it will be easy and quick to obtain a copy at local bookstores or online sources.
printf formatting for integers
printf formatting for floating point values
There are both written homeworks and programs in this course. Programs focus on course topics. Grading is based on both correctness and programming style. You write both C and assembly language programs in this course. You will be expected to design algorithms and organize code for these programs. Algorithm details will not often be covered in class. You are expected to write grammatically correct, clear documentation for the code. A description of our expectations for programs is given in this Guidelines for Programs document. You will not be given test cases for your programs. So, you will need to identify reasonable test cases, and test your own program with them.
You will use computers that are running RedHat 5 Linux, a Unix operating system. If you had an account in CS last semester, it will still be available to you. Otherwise, you have been assigned a new account. Learn how to access your account by logging in as "newuser" on one of the Unix machines (leave the password entry blank). If this is not clear, you should attend one of the Unix Orientation Sessions.
Programs and homeworks are due as stated on each assignment: given by both a due date and a time. Assignments will be turned in online. Any assignment turned in after the due date/time and up to 24 hours late will receive a deduction of 25% of the total available points. Any assignment turned in more than 24 hours after the due date/time will not be graded, and it will receive a zero score. Exceptions to this late policy will be considered only if discussed with your instructor well before the assignment is due.
You may work in pairs on assignments. Both students working together must be enrolled in the course. Each student must (individually) turn in each assignment. On collaborated assignments, there will be 2 copies of the assignment turned in: one by each of the pair working together. Include the names of both students involved. The TA will choose to grade just one of these turned in assignments, giving the same score to both students. Pairings may be different on different assignments.
Here are links to some information about pair programming. You will need to sift through some these to get details that might help in this class.
Exam questions will require your understanding of both homeworks and programs. Expect exam questions to determine whether you both did and understood the assignments.
There will be 3 exams. The first two are given during class time; the last exam is given during the summary activity period. The dates of the exams are given in the schedule below.
Bring a current photo ID to all exams. Your UW student ID is preferred. No ID, no exam!
Each student may use one 8.5 by 11 inch sheet of paper with hand-written notes when taking the exams. Both sides of the paper may be used. These notes may not be shared when taking the exam.
Copies of appropriate tables for ASCII/MAL/TAL will be provided with the exam.
No electronic devices (such as calculators and laptop computers) may be used during exams. Cell phones or pagers will be turned off during exams. A phone that rings during an exam may result in a penalty, determined by the instructor.
If you have a conflict with any listed exam time, you must notify your instructor by the end of the second week of classes.
Here are many previous exams (some with solutions). Some of the questions are representative of questions you are likely to see on this semester's exams. However, because of changes in the course as well as the credit reduction, lots of questions are neither representative nor appropriate. The more recent the exam, the more appropriate the questions. The course material on function linkage, implementation, and MIPS conventions for register usage were extensively changed as of the Spring 2007 semester.
University policies will be followed strictly in this course. Please, pay particular attention to policies on academic misconduct and incompletes.
Grades will be based on the exams, homework, and program scores. More difficult, and more time consuming assignments will be given more weight than easier ones.
| percentage | |
| homeworks and programs | 30% |
| exam 1 | 20% |
| exam 2 | 25% |
| exam 3 | 25% |
A small amount of extra credit is available. It is described in this extra credit description handout.
Requests for re-grades must be made within one week after graded work is returned. For programs and homeworks, contact the TA listed as the grader on your grade sheet. For exams, talk to Karen.
Here are some (possibly) helpful web pages.
C Programming
Class Examples
Tentative schedule for Fall 2009.
All students are responsible for the material under the headings
of Writings and Lecture Notes and On Your Own.
The difference between these 2 categories is that the material
under the heading of On Your Own will not be covered in class.
| Dates | Topics | Writings and Lecture Notes | On Your Own | Beyond 354 | Due Dates |
| - | prerequisite material: Number Systems | ||||
| 9/2-4 | class policies,
how computers work |
the basics of computer operation | |||
| 9/7-11 | C programming |
introduction,
I/O, on pointers, on functions and memory allocation |
on argv and argc:
questions, questions with answers |
No class Monday Sept 7 (Labor Day) | |
| 9/14-18 | C programming |
integer representations:
questions, questions with answers character representation: questions, questions with answers |
floating point representation | finish the optional Assignment 0 by Monday | |
| 9/21-25 | finish C programming, integer arithmetic and logical operations | integer arithmetic, logical, and shift operations | two's complement multiplication | Assignment 1 due Friday: C program | |
| 9/28-10/2 | Assembly language: with MIPS R2000 examples |
motivation for registers, basics of MAL (MIPS assembly language), MIPS instructions, code implementation examples |
need-to-know aspects of MAL | No class Monday Sept 28 (Yom Kippur) | |
| 10/5-9 | MIPS assembly language |
on addressing modes |
addressibility: questions, questions with answers |
Exam 1 WEDNESDAY
(covers thru arithmetic and logical operations) |
|
| 10/12-16 |
data structures |
arrays, stacks, and queues | array code implementation: questions, questions with answers |
Assignment 2 due Monday: super simple MAL program | |
| 10/19-23 |
functions |
function implementation | MIPS conventions |
Assignment 3 due Friday: MAL program using arrays | |
| 10/26-30 |
finish material on functions,
the assembly process |
the assembly process | linking and loading | ||
| 11/2-6 |
finish material on the assembly process
on I/O |
input and output, more on I/O and DMA | Assignment 4 due Friday: MAL programs with functions | ||
| 11/9-13 | finish material on I/O | ||||
| 11/16-20 | exception handling | interrupts, an incomplete kernel, and a complete, non-reentrant kernel. |
Just for fun, read The Story of Mel. |
Exam 2 MONDAY
(covers thru function implementation) Assignment 5 due Friday: hand assembly | |
| 11/23-27 | finish exception handling | No class Wednesday Nov 25 (Thanksgiving) | |||
| 11/30-12/4 | performance | on perfomance issues | pipelining | Assignment 6 due Friday: MAL program using interrupts | |
| 12/7-11 | finish performance, extra topics |
floating point appreciation,
Intel x86 appreciation |
|||
| 12/14 | finish extra topics | ||||
| Saturday Dec 19, 10:05am-12:05pm |
Exam 3 during Summary Activity period
(Covers the assembly process, I/O, interrupts, performance, and end-of-semester topics.) Location: 5206 Soc Sci |