Computer Organization and Architecture
Grinnell College, Fall 2015

Class Meetings

MWF 8:00–8:50am in Noyce 3819

Labs

Tuesdays in Noyce 3818 (see lab website)
Section 1: 8:00–8:50am
Section 2: 1:00–1:50pm
Section 3: 9:00–9:50pm

Instructor

Charlie Curtsinger (contact me)

Textbook

Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface (4th Edition) by Patterson and Hennessy

Announcements

September 11

Remember to turn in your fall picnic signup cards by Monday, September 14th.

August 25

Please complete the department survey on classes for spring. You should have received a link to this survey from SamR by email as well.

August 23

Be sure to check the lab section website for pre-lab preparations and reading.

August 21

The first assignment has been posted.

About this course

Welcome to the fall 2015 session of CSC 211, Computer Organization and Architecture. In this course, we will address questions such as the following:

• How does a computer actually work?
• How do we use electricty to perform abstract tasks like adding and storing numbers?
• What happens when a computer executes a program?
• How do languages and hardware work together?
• How can we make computers faster?

By the end of this class, you should be able to:

• design and construct digital logic circuits
• write programs in assembly language
• identify the main components in a computer and explain how they work
• understand hardware design issues and how they affect performance

This is my first semester teaching at Grinnell College, and much of this course's material is new to me too. Please let me know how the course is going, in person or by email.