Computer Science 240
Computer Organization
Fall 2013

Welcome to CS240
By now you are quite comfortable writing and executing your own computer programs.  However, you may be less familiar with how exactly the computer works its magic with the programs you have written. This course opens up the "black box" that is the modern digital computer, exposing the many layers that lie hidden beneath the application programming level you lived in in CS111. Topics include an overview of computer organization, an introduction to digital logic, basic datapath and control implementation, the conventional machine level, assembly language programming, and a brief overview of operating systems.  Course requirements will be discussed on the first day.
Prerequisite: CS111
Distribution: Mathematical modeling
Semester: Fall, Unit: 1.25

Textbook
The text this semester is Computer Organization and Design:  The Hardware/Software Interface the written by David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy and published by Morgan Kaufmann.  Copies of the text are available in the College Bookstore.

Laboratory
This course has a 3 hour laboratory meetings taught by Jean Herbst, taught on Monday. Please see the laboratory website for details.

Course Materials
Computer Science 240 course materials were prepared using materials supplied by the authors of our text, David Patterson and John Hennessy. Additional materials may be found on the course CD that comes with the text. Computer Science 240 course materials for each class will be handed out at the beginning of each lecture. Copies are available in .pdf format using the links on this page and require the Adobe Acrobat Reader program for on-screen viewing and printing.

Course Conference
The course conference will contain announcements and changes to the schedule. Please check this conference before each class and especially before an assign is due. In addition, the conference will contain a section for CS240 students ask and answer questions among themselves concerning course material and assignments. You may discuss the homework in general terms, suggest where to go in the text or lecture notes to help someone get started, or you may help clarify an ambiguous question. However, please do not post your solutions either complete or partial. I will check the conference regularly to help with any unanswered questions.