CSC270 Syllabus 2016

--D. Thiebaut (talk) 09:00, 22 January 2016 (EST)

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Main Page | Weekly Schedule

Professor

Dominique Thiébaut
Dept. Computer Science
Ford Hall, 356.
Telephone: 3854
Office Hours: TBA, and by appointment.

Introduction

CSC270 is a Computer Science course that counts as a Systems course for the major requirement. It is a laboratory-based class intended to give students a general background in computer electronics. Its natural place in the curriculum is after CSC231 (Assembly language) and before CSC364 (Computer architecture), although students can easily take CSC364 after CSC231 without any lack of background information.

The class is intended to give computer science students without a formal background in physics or electricity a general understanding of digital and microprocessor electronics. During the laboratory sessions, students experiment with two Heathkit training kits, one for digital logic (first half of the semester), and the other for microprocessor hardware (second half of the semester). The digital logic labs introduce the concepts of electrical signals, continuous and alternative currents, frequency, and the implementation of a binary system with dual voltage circuits. The microprocessor labs evolve around a Motorola 6800 8-bit microprocessor system, programmable in hexadecimal. The organization of this computer is explored, with emphasis on the microprocessor buses, random-access and read-only memories, as well as input/output (I/O) circuits.

Prerequisites

CSC231, Assembly Language, is a prerequisite (instructor's permission is required if CSC231 hasn't been taken). A background in electronics and/or physics is not necessary: The intent of this course is to be self-contained and provide a general understanding of the physical aspects of computers to non physicists.

Topics Covered

• Logic design
• Boolean logic. AND, OR, inverters, XOR gates. Karnaugh maps. Canonical forms
• Simple combinational logic gates. NAND, and NOR gates
• Complex logic circuits. Selectors and Multiplexers
• Sequential circuits. The D, JK flip-flops, and T-flip-flops
• Sequencers & Finite State Machines
• Microprocessor system design
• Microprocessor system organization
• Microprocessor buses
• Memory organization
• Input/Output circuits

Class Times

• Lectures: TTh 9:00-10:20 a.m., Ford Hall 143
• Lab Th: 1-2:50 pm, Ford Hall 143

Textbook

M. Morris Mano, Digital Design. , (5th Edition), Prentice Hall. (Check Moodle for additional information)

Lateness Policy

No late assignment will be accepted, except for situations in which the Dean will suggest an extension. Recommendations for extensions from your class dean will generally be honored. However, one assignment and one lab can be skipped during the semester without penalty.

Grading

Weights used in computing the final grade

Homework Assignments	35%
Lab Reports	25%
Midterm Exam	15%
Final Exam	15%
Participation	10%

The experiments done in each lab will be written up in a lab report, which will always be due a week later, at the beginning of the next lab. If you miss a lab, you are responsible for making it up during the week, on your own, and preferably during office hours.

The workload consists in writing weekly lab reports, and working on weekly homework assignments (there will be no heavy programming, except for short assembly programs ranging from 5 to 30 instructions, and written on paper and assembled by hand).

Piazza

This term we will be using Piazza for class discussion. The system is highly catered to getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates, and myself. Rather than emailing questions to me, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza. If you have any problems or feedback for the developers, email team@piazza.com.

You are highly encouraged to respond to questions on Piazza, as long as you do not divulge solutions to Homework assignments. Be helpful in helping others understand figure out how to get out what the problem might be, but do not give out the solution to the problem.

Find our class page at: https://piazza.com/smith/spring2016/csc270/home.

Teaching Assistant

No TAs for this class.

Intellectual Responsibility

Students in the class are strongly encouraged to use the Internet and on-line resources available when working on homework assignments or on lab reports. When information is taken from an on-line resource, there should be explicit mention of it in the work handed in.

Working in a group is an important skill to develop. Some assignments will allow or require collaborative work, some assignments, such as the final project, will not. Labs will always be done in groups of two or three students. Never more than three.

When working on an assignment that is qualified as "individual" work, students should follow these simple rules:

• It is not acceptable for two students to work together on a problem.
• It is not acceptable for a student to exchange written information with one another.
• It is acceptable to point another student to an on-line resource that contains relevant information to the problem the student is trying to solve.
• It is acceptable for a student to help another student debug his/her program, but in a limited fashion. Use good judgement when providing or refusing to provide help.
• If for any reason one should feel he/she may have infringed these rules, one should contact the instructor prior to, or concurrently with the submission of the work.

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