This is a course offered by the Department of Computer Science at Columbia University.
Students are urged to let the instructor know about any problems they are having with the course, criticisms, suggestions for improvement, etc. They can do so by such means as talking to the instructor, or sending him email. Those who, for whatever reason, wish to communicate some thoughts anonymously, can do so by communicating privately (in person or by any other means) with one of the class ombudspeople.
These are members of the class who have volunteered to pass on to the instructor any suggestions or complaints that you convey to them, and they will do so without identifying the source. They are:
Course Instructor: Professor Stephen
H. Unger
Supplementary Reading. NOT Required
ON COMPUTER ORGANIZATION
ON LOGIC CIRCUITS:
Computer Organization is about how computers work in terms of functional blocks such as the arithmetic unit, registers, pipelines, caches, RAMS, etc. Machine language programming is a feature of the course. The emphasis is strongly on RISC architecture.
Teamwork and cooperation among engineers and scientists is very important. Students should get into the habit by helping one another master the subjects they are learning. For example, studying in pairs or groups can be very helpful. Answering one another's questions, sharing information about resources, such as books or reprints, are all good things to do. In some courses (not this one) there are projects in which students work in teams.
But there are other situations in which collaboration is NOTproper. While it is all right to help a classmate understand the meaning of a homework question, it is NOT all right to help a classmate generate a solution (or of course for you to obtain help in solving a homework problem). Copying work on an exam from another is also of course improper (as would be the use of disallowed information sources during an exam).
IMPROPER COLLABORATION OR OTHER FORMS OF CHEATING MAY RESULT IN UNPLEASANT INTERVIEWS WITH A DEAN, FOLLOWED BY PUNISHMENT THAT CAN GO AS FAR AS EXPULSION FROM THE UNIVERSITY.
Instructions For CS W3824 Midterm Exam
Read this now. It may help you get a higher grade.
1. Write your name NOW on this sheet. Check to see that all 14 questions are in your set. 2. Answer all 14 questions. Work on the question sheets; use the backs of PREVIOUS pages for scrap work. 3. Unless you NEVER make mistakes, use a pencil rather than a pen. Do NOT write in red. 4. Show all work, including BRIEF explanations where appropriate. 5. Write LEGIBLY and place your answers in the answer boxes. 6. When writing product terms or unordered sets, order the literals or elements alphabetically (e.g., AB' NOT B'A). 7. NO books, notes, or calculators are to be used. 8. Read each question CAREFULLY before answering it. Allocate your time intelligently: Solve the problems that seem easy before attacking the harder ones.
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Why attend lectures?
Lectures are an essential part of the course. Reading the relevant parts of the text and doing the homework is very important in order to understand the subject matter of the course. But everything will be much harder if you skip lectures. Asking questions at lectures, making comments, and hearing the questions and comments of classmates, along with the responses, deepens your understanding and gets you past difficult points much more easily. Students who skip lectures almost always start to fall behind and then have difficulty in catching up, because of the connections between the topics. Examples used in the lectures are generally different from those in the text, and often explanations given in class are more detailed. Material not in the text is sometimes introduced in lectures (but also note that not everything in the text is included in lectures.)