CSEE W3827 - Fundamentals of Computer Systems

Call number 24562

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Course Information (Also available in pdf)

Professor Dan Rubenstein

Spring 2014

Contact Information
Who	Office	Phone	E-mail	Office Hours
Prof. Dan Rubenstein	CEPSR 816	(212) 939-7048	danr@cs.columbia.edu	W,Th 10-11am, or by appt
TA Andrew Mercer-Taylor	TA Room	N/A
Contact Prof and TAs: 3827TA@lists.cs.columbia.edu

Course URL: http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~danr/3827
This course uses Piazza for discussions, access to HW, etc..
Course meeting time / location: 1:10 - 2:25 on M, W in 501 NWC.
Pre-Requisites: An introductory programming course (e.g., COMS 1004 or 1007)

Description
This course explains, from a logic perspective, how computers work, i.e., how 0's and 1's are manipulated to do all the advanced calculations, computations, and services that computers can perform.
The first major topic is digital logic, which concerns the design of circuits to implement logic functions using standard components such as AND-gates, OR-gates, and inverters. The circuits might be used to control the flow of data within a computer, or the processing of the data (e.g., arithmetic operations), or to control the overall action of a computer. We will cover how to specify logic functions precisely, to manipulate formal expressions, and to implement them efficiently. We will then cover the design of basic building blocks, including the control, of modern digital computers. Both combinational and sequential circuits will be covered.
The second part of the course involves the structure and software interface of digital computers. Focusing our attention on modern RISC architecture. We will discuss the functional blocks such as the arithmetic unit, register files, and memory. Single-cycle and multiple-cycle implementations will be presented, followed by the concept of pipelining. We will cover the basics of caches and virtual memory. Machine and assembly language programming is a feature of the course. Main memory systems, currently DRAM, will be discussed as well as the operation of magnetic disk drives. Some aspects of I/O will also be introduced.
Note: This course is a joint CS/EE course.

Info on grading - click here

Texts
No texts are required. Recommended texts are:
- Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals, 4th ed, by M. Morris Mano and Charles Kime, ISBN-10: 0-13-198926-X
  ISBN-13: 978-0-13-198926-9
- Computer Organization and Design, The Hardware/Software Interface, 4th ed, David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy, Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN 978-0-12-374493-7
- Digital Design and Computer Architecture (2nd edition), by D. Harris and S. Harris, Morgan Kaufmann. IBSN: 978-0-12-394424-5
Computing Accounts
Not needed.

On Contacting Prof. Rubenstein
There are 150 students in the class at the moment, so I won't be able to respond immediately to each e-mail.
- It doesn't matter if you email me at danr@cs.columbia.edu, danr@ee.columbia.edu, dsr100@columbia.edu or danielr@columbia.edu, they all go to the same place. If the question is of a technical nature, you are better off emailing 3827TA@lists.cs.columbia.edu. This e-mail goes to both myself and the TAs, so the first to get the question can answer.
- Put 3827 in the subject header.
- E-mail is the best way to get in touch with me (unless I'm sitting in my office and you want to see if I'm there). Then you can try my office phone.
- Do a bit of legwork before asking your question. If I've already answered it elsewhere, I might not dig up the answer again.
- I batch e-mails with questions and respond in unison, often via a broadcast FAQ. I do this roughly once or twice a week. This means you may have to wait several days for an answer to your question, so please don't wait until the last minute to start the homework.
Course Schedule
The schedule below is tentative - it is what we will target, but Prof. Rubenstein reserves the right to move ahead or behind, schedule to best accomodate the needs of the class (note that there are several "catchup" days to account for possibly falling behind.
Homework release dates and due dates will be altered as well to accommodate the pace of the class.

Date	#	Topics/chapters covered	Reading	Assigned	Due
1/23	1	Intro; Overview of Computer Architecture; Definitions (bit,byte,word)	M&K Ch 1
1/28	2	Binary number representations: 1's complement; 2's complement, adding and subtracting and overflow; floating point representations: overflow and underflow	M&K 4.3-4.4, 10.7, P&H 3.5 skip FP in MIPS	HW #1
1/30	3	Logic gates; XOR; Boolean Algebra; NAND and NOR gates; Taking complements; DeMorgan's Theorem; Duals	M&K 2.1-2.2, 2.8, 2.9
2/4	4	Standard Forms: minterms, maxterms, sum-of-products, product-of-sums	M&K 2.3	HW #2	HW #1
2/6	5	K-maps: simplification with implicants, Don't-care conditions	M&K 2.4-2.5
2/11	6	* Catchup *		HW #3	HW #2
2/13	7	Combinatorial Circuit Design: Multi-bit output functions; standard combinatorial circuits (enabler, decoder, encoder, priority encoder, mux	M&K 3.1, 3.3, 3, 3.6-3.9
2/18	8	Arithmetic funcs: Adder (half, full, ripple-carry, adder-subtractor); Contraction; Shifter	M&K 4.1-4.2, 4.5, 9.4	HW #4	HW #3
2/20	9	Sequential Circuitry: Latch, Flip-Flops, timing issues	M&K 5.1-5.3, 5.6
2/25	10	Sequential Circuit Analysis & Design: State machines	M&K 5.4-5.5	HW #5	HW #4
2/27	11	PLAs; ROM; Register Design: Load and Transfer	M&K 6.8, 7.1-7.3
3/4	12	Register Design cont'd: MicroOps and Counters, mux and serial transfer	M&K 7.5-7.6, 7.8-7.9		HW #5
3/6	13	Memory Design	M&K 8.1-8.7
3/11	14	* Catchup and/or Midterm review *
3/13	15	MIDTERM (in class)
3/18	--	SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS!
3/20	--	SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS!
3/25	16	Processor Design: Datapath, ALU	M&K 9.1-9.5	HW #6
3/27	17	Control Word; Simple Arch; Instruction Decoder	M&K 9.6-9.8	HW #7	HW #6
4/1	18	Instruction Types and Formats	P&H 2.1-2.6
4/3	19	Branches, stacks, heaps, immediate addressing	P&H 2.7-2.8, 2.10	HW #8	HW #7
4/8	20	Single Cycle Datapath	P&H 4.1-4.4
4/10	21	Single Cycle Datapath cont'd		HW #9	HW #8
4/15	22	Pipelining	P&H 4.5-4.6
4/17	23	Hazards	P&H 4.7-4.8
4/22	24	Cache & Cache Replacement Policies	P&H 5.1-5.2
4/24	25	* Catchup and/or review *			HW #9
4/29	26	* Catchup and/or review *
5/1	26	* Catchup and/or review *
5/6	26	* Catchup and/or review *
Tentative 5/13		FINAL EXAM, Time 1:10pm-4:10pm	Location TBD

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CSEE W3827 - Fundamentals of Computer Systems

Call number 24562

Description

Info on grading - click here

Texts

Computing Accounts

On Contacting Prof. Rubenstein

Course Schedule