Thomas P. Kelliher
Hoffberger 140
Office phone: 337-6189
Home phone: 931-2946
Send mail to kelliher AT DOMAIN bluebird.goucher.edu
http://phoenix.goucher.edu/~kelliher/ Office hours: MWF 1:30--2:30pm. T 10:00--11:30pm. Other times by appointment.
Hoffberger 149
MWF 12:30--1:20pm
http://phoenix.goucher.edu/~kelliher/cs220/
Paraphrasing from the Preface of Goodman & Miller, our goal is to gain an understanding of the kinds of operations that can be executed efficiently in hardware and how those operations are performed. We will examine the interface between hardware and software. We will study how numbers, as a primitive type, are represented and how higher-order data structures (e.g., arrays and structures) are represented. We will see how arithmetic and logic instructions operate on data and take a look at the fundamental control structures (straight-line, conditional, and repetitive execution) and more abstract control structures, such as procedures and functions. We'll see how a CPU communicates with the external world (I/O).
Another objective is to begin to get comfortable with Unix. Much academic software is written for Unix (including the simulators we'll be using) and it provides an opportunity for you to meet an operating system ``up close and personal'' sans its GUI layer.
A = [90--100]
B = [80--90)
etc. I use +/- grading sparingly.
Subject to the schedule, but here's a rough idea:
- Assignments: 35%.
- Midterms: 10/3, 11/21. 40%.
- Final: to be scheduled, cumulative. 25%.
Most course handouts will be made available once in class. After that, they may be obtained from the class home page on the World Wide Web (see the class URL above). Solutions to homeworks, quizzes, and exams will also be distributed through the home page.
Attendance of classes, while not required, is quite important. You cannot know where we stand and what we're discussing unless you experience it firsthand through regular participation. Please inform me beforehand if you will be absent. Remember that you are responsible for making up missed work.
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Refer to the Student Handbook.