Courses

CS 340: Foundations of Computer Systems

Objective	To teach the basics of machine organization and low-level systems software, including an introduction to assembly language and C programming.
Pre-Conditions	[CS127b/CS227] Elementary data structures: stacks, queues, linked lists, trees [CS127b/CS227] Recursion [CS127b/CS227] Facility with modest (> 100 line) programs [CS318 (co-req)] Unix tools: Makefiles, debuggers, source control
Post-Conditions (Topics)	[1 week] Basic machine organization: [CS422] [CS452] registers & memory software levels: source, assembly, machine [2 weeks] Assembly code [CS452] [CS453] Instruction set basics: operator/operand, addressing modes Simple instructions: load/store, add/mult Control flow: jump/conditionals, if-then-else, loops [1 week] Execution Model: text, stack, heap [CS452] [1 week] Stack: calling conventions, activation records [CS422] [2 weeks] Heap: [CS422] [CS452] Allocation algorithms Fragmentation Garbage collection and compaction Introduction to C pointers [1 week] Assembler: resolving internal references [1 week] Object file formats [1 week] Linking: resolving external references [2 weeks] Interrupts and traps: [CS425] [CS452] System calls Interrupt handlers Simple locking [2 weeks] Virtual memory and loading [CS422] [CS452] Loading Segmented VM (mapping only) Flat VM Facility with ~50 line assembly programs Facility with ~500 line C programs [CS425] [CS452]

Last revised on 27 February 1997 by John Hartman.