CS 264 Introduction to Computer Systems

Summary

• This is an intermediate course that teaches the basics of computer organization, mainly from the pogrammer's perspective. The high-level goal of this course is to make you a more versatile and dextrous programmer. We will do that by teaching you how the computer works, which will make you understand how your program is executed. The course will be roughly organized as five weeks of assembly programming, five weeks of C programming, and a five week team project.
• The schedule on this page lists the topics we will cover by date.

Required Materials

• Laptops will be required in class. Please bring your laptop to class every day. We'll be using them for labs. Minimum system requirements:
  • 8GB RAM
  • Intel/AMD CPU
• Textbook: Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, 3rd edition

Office Hours

• Doyle 309
  
• Tuesday: Noon - 1PM
  
• Or by appointment

Labs

• Thursday: 4PM - 6PM
• Doyle 314

TA Allan Miller

• Doyle 308
  
• By Appointment

Grading

• Treat this course like a job where you are trying to get promoted. If you show up and do your work, you will get a good grade.
• Each person will get five slop days to turn in assignments late. You can use up to two days per assignment.
• No partial credit for code that does not compile.
• Homework: 40 %
• Participation: 10 %
• Progress: 10 %
• Final Project: 40 %

Percentage	Letter Grade
91+	A
89-90	A-
87-88	B+
77-86	B
75-76	B-
73-74	C+
62-72	C
60-61	C-
50-59	D
Below 50	F

Scheduling Conflicts

• If you have a (legitimate) scheduling conflict with a quiz or exam, it is possible to schedule a makeup session. You must let me know at least two weeks prior to the quiz/exam date. Legitimate scheduling conflicts include religious observances.
• LUC's academic calendar can be found here.

Mandatory Reporter Statment

• Each faculty and staff member at Loyola University Chicago is required to report any incidents of gender-based misconduct that they are made aware of, even if it happened in the past. Gender-based misconduct includes discrimination based on actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, or pregnancy or parenting status; dating and domestic violence; sexual misconduct (including sexual assault, sexual harassment, and sexual exploitation); and stalking.

Tools

• emu8086
• VMWare

Programming Resources

• ASM86 Language Reference Manual
• 8086 Instruction Reference
• C Book
• Alex Russell's Dos Game Programming in C for Beginners
• OS Development Wiki
• 8086 Real Mode Asm Tutorial

Collaboration

• Students are expected to write their own code for homework assignments. No copying or code sharing is allowed. Copying code from the Internet is also not allowed.