CSCI-UA 201 (Computer Systems Organization)

GTG = Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron,
ODSA = The C programming language,

Date
Material Covered, Notes, Handouts and Links
Readings, Assignments, Homework



May 9, 12:00-1:50pm, 109 CIWW, Final Exam

Q&A before the exam (attendance optional)

May 8, 11am in 109 CIWW

Class # 26
May 2

Rec # 14
May 1

Class # 25
April 30

Dynamic memory allocators: general considerations/constraints, header structure, implicit free list.

slides

Class # 24
April 25

Virtual memory

slides

Rec # 13
April 24

Class # 23
April 23

More on processes: Linux process hierarchy, shells, signals.

slides

  • Project 4 posted (repositories available on GitHub).

    Due: May 4.

  • Reading chapter 9.

Class # 22
April 18

Quiz.

More on processes.

Rec # 12
April 17

Class # 21
April 16

Processes.

slides

Class # 20
April 11

Cache memories - a big picture.

Finish with matrix multiplication example.

Reading: chapter 8.

Rec # 11
April 10

Working with cache memories. Determining the stack content of a running program.

recitation 10 repositories available on GitHub

Class # 19
April 9

Memory hierarchy, part 2: cache memories.

slides

Class # 19
April 4

Memory hierarchy.

slides

Reading: chapter 6.

Rec # 10
April 3

Working with assembly and arrays and structures.

recitation 9 repositories available on GitHub

Class # 18
March 2

Arrays and structures in assembly.

Examples:

Class # 17
March 28

Finish with function calling conventions: caller- and callee-save registers.

Arrays, structures and other things in assembly.

slides

Rec # 9
March 27

Working with assembly.

recitation 8 repositories available on GitHub

Class # 16
March 26

Function calls - what really has to happen?

slides

Class # 15
March 21

snow day

Rec # 8
March 20

Using GDB to go through machine instructions of programs and access registers.

rec7 repositories available in GitHub class organization

Class # 14
March 19

Control structures.

slides

Additional resources:

Project 2, due March 30.

Repositories available in GitHub class organization.

Class # 13
March 7

Midterm exam.

Rec # 7
March 4

Class # 12
March 5

Exam Q&A.

Class # 11
Feb. 28

Machine level programming.

Rec # 6
Feb 27

see recitation 6 repository in the course organization on GitHub

Class # 10
Feb. 26

Machine level programming.

slides

Can dumplings explain how computers work?

Rec # 5
Feb 21

recitation will be held on Wednesday at 12:30pm in 60 Fifth Ave, Room 150

see recitation 5 repository in the course organization on GitHub

Class # 9
Feb. 20

lecture will be held on Tuesday at 8am in CIWW 109

Finish with floating point encoding.

Start machine level programming.

Reading: chapter 3

No classes
Feb. 19

No classes scheduled

Class # 8
Feb. 14

Data representation: floating point numbers, IEEE 754 encoding

slides

Rec # 4
Feb 13

see recitation 4 repository in the course organization on GitHub

Class # 7
Feb. 12

Data representation: more on integer representation, casting, truncating, overflow due to addition and multiplication.

Project 1 available in repositories on Github.

Class # 6
Feb. 7

Dynamic memory allocation.

Data representation: bit vectors, unsigned int, int.

slides

Rec # 3
Feb 6

see recitation 3 repository in the course organization on GitHub

complete all the exercises by Friday 2/9, 11:55pm.

Class # 5
Feb. 5

Even more on C: strings in C = null terminated arrays of characters, structures.

Class # 4

Continue with basics of C: using header files, separate compilation, working with pointers, swap function, passing params to functions, arrays, traversing arrays using pointers.

Rec # 2

see recitation 2 repository in the course organization on GitHub

Class # 3

Continue with basics of C.

lecture 2, slightly more, but not yet finished

  • install missing manual pages (man pages) on the virtual machine
    • open the termina window
    • run sudo apt install manpages-posix-dev
    • you will be prompted for the password (same as what you use for logging in to the virtual machine)

Class # 2

Starting with C and Linux: intro to compiling and running code in a terminal, basic Unix/Linux commands, stages of compilation process, C basics (data types, control flow, printf, functions, scope, header files)

lecture 2, part 1

Rec # 1

see recitation 1 repository

Class # 1

Introduction: course overview and syllabus.

GitHub account setup and info

You will not be able to complete any labs or participate in the recitations until I've added you to the Github organization for the class, which will give you access to the class repositories.

  • Sign up for a Github account, if you do not have one already. If you do have one already, associate your nyu email address with that account (or create an additional account if you do not wish to use your primary account for the course).

  • Fill out the survey located here.

  • By the start of first recitation, you will get an email from Github with an invitation to join the nyu-cs201-s18 organization. Follow the instructions to accept the invitation. Once you have accepted the invitation you will be able to see the other repositories here, including rec1, which you will begin during the first recitation.

Virtual lab machine setup instructions

You must complete all homework assignments and projects on the given virtual machine (or, at least, you need to verify that your code works on the given virtual machine). To install the virtual machine on your computer, take the following steps.

  • Download the Virtualbox virtual machine monitor here. Choose the right binary to download according to the type of operating system running on your computer. The latest version should work.
  • Download the class virtual machine image here (Google Drive, NYU account login). This file is fairly large (~1GB), so you need to be patient. Do not start the download unless you have a decent connection and can stay in the same place for some time.
  • Install and launch Virtualbox. On the Virtualbox application toolbar, under the Menu item "File", click on "Import appliance…", and choose the previously downloaded CSO_Sp18.ova file when prompted.
  • Leave the default settings. You do not need to change anything.
  • After importing, start the virtual machine named CSO_Sp18 by pressing "START" key and you are done. The login name and password have been given to you in class.
  • (optional) Open the Devices menu option and click 'Insert guest additions CD image.' A disk will be mounted that you can find by click the little file icon in the bottom left portion of the screen. Click autorun.sh and execute this script. This will give you better screen resolution and a few additional features.

Troubleshooting:

  • If there are no menues in the toolbars when you log in to the virtual machine, try to resize the window of the virtual machine and move it around (YES, not a very scientific approach, but it worked for some users in the past).

  • If you run into problems with installation or setup of the virtual machine (particularly likely with Windows users) see this troubleshooting guide.

WIndows 10 Bios access

If these suggestions do not solve the problem, post a question in Piazza providing as many details as possible (the exact error message, your operating system, versions of the software, what things you have tried, etc.) and we will try to help.

  • complete the survey located here (due: by 5pm Jan. 22)

  • install and setup the virtual machine for the class; see instructions on the left (due: by 8am Jan. 23)