Computer Systems

CS 271, Spring 2019

Columbia Gorge Community College
Hood River Indian Creek Campus
1730 College Way, Hood River, Oregon

TuTh 5:00–6:50pm, HRC 309
CRN 1093968, 4 credits

Instructor

Office Hours

MW 2:00–2:50pm, faculty office

Course description

Examines computer systems organization and programming, including computer architectures and hardware, operating systems, and systems programming in C and assembly.

Prerequisite: CS 260. Audit available.

Resources

Here is an old class project CPU to look at.

You may have a look at my calculator, or an even older calculator, if you're interested.

Digital logic.

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

Understand basic computer system organization including the operating system (processes, files, virtual memory) and the underlying hardware (CPU, memory hierarchy, I/O).
Understand the compilation system (preprocessing, assembling, compiling, and linking) and the function of object/executable files and shared libraries, as well as how basic tools like debuggers and Makefiles work.
Write C programs to illustrate basic systems programming concepts, including file I/O, system calls, memory management, exception handling and process management. Implement how high-level C programming constructs such as loops and function calls are translated into underlying machine code.
Perform arithmetic in hexadecimal, decimal, and binary notation, and convert among these notations.
Understand how data types such as integers, characters, floating point numbers, arrays, pointers, and structures are normally represented in memory.
Apply the basic instruction set architecture of a commonly-used microprocessor, including the arithmetic/logic instructions, registers, memory model, addressing, and control instructions. Recognize how exceptions, traps, and context switches occur and how they are handled at the machine level.

Classroom expectations and policies

This is a work- and discussion-based class, and attendance is required. Your grade will be based on demonstrating your achievement of the course outcomes in class, and therefore participation is the only way to succeed. If you must miss a class, give me as much notice as you can and make a plan with me for how to make up your participation.

My classes are always safe space. The Advocates for Youth define a safe space as:

A place where anyone can relax and be fully self-expressed, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe on account of biological sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, age, or physical or mental ability; a place where the rules guard each person's self-respect and dignity and strongly encourage everyone to respect others.

The policies of CGCC also apply.

It is important to me that students come to my classes eager to learn; if there is something in your life making it difficult to participate, please come to me. I will do what I can to make sure you can find the resources you need outside of class, in order to foster an energetic community inside of class.