CSC103 Weekly Schedule Spring 2012

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Office Hours: M 1:10-3:00 p.m., W 4:00-6:00 p.m.

Weekly Schedule

Week Topics Reading
Week 1
1/30
  • Monday
    • Introduction to the class and the 1/2 semester
    • Organization of the class
    • a short movie to get the discussion started...
    • some examples of computers:


AbacusWolfram.png


DifferenceEngine.jpg


DifferenceEngineDetail.jpg


DNAComputer.png


(start at 1min 47sec)

    • Keywords:
      • code: Translating from one system of values to another system.
    • Electricity
    • The Binary System: a system where the only two numbers available are 0 and 1. Every operation that we can do in decimal, with 10 digits, we can also do in binary.
    • The Transistor: A switch controlled by electricity.
    • Two giants for computer science:
      • George Boole (1779-1848): logic expression = boolean expression. Logic: creating formulas where variables are combined by operators. The variables are boolean variables, the operators are logic operators. Any formula can be represented with a combination of just three operators: AND, OR, and NOT.
      • Claude Shannon (1916-2001): writes a Master's thesis at MIT in 1948, which states that any binary numerical computation can be performed using logic expressions and logic operators.


  • Wednesday
    • Review of the binary system
    • Exercises on binary (and other) systems and Logic
    • George Boole (1779-1848): logic expression = boolean expression. Logic: creating formulas where variables are combined by operators. The variables are boolean variables, the operators are logic operators. Any formula can be represented with a combination of just three operators: AND, OR, and NOT.
    • Claude Shannon (1916-2001): writes a Master's thesis at MIT in 1948, which states that any binary numerical computation can be performed using logic expressions and logic operators.

Week 2
2/6
  • Monday
    • we stopped last week at Shannon's Master's Thesis (MIT).
    • building a 2-bit adder with logic gates.
    • Two-bit adder (verify the equations with this exercise
    • Logic Gates
    • Data sheet for the AND gate.
    • Data sheet for the NOT gate.
    • Data sheet for the OR gate.
    • Logic Design
    • Simulator
    • Lab #1



  • Wednesday

    • Schematics from NASA
    • Exercise on Logic Design: a review of the process of going from a description of the function to a circuit.
    • Identifying various parts inside a computer. We want to be able to recognize:
      • The processor
      • The Crystal
      • The Random Access Memory (RAM)
      • The power supply
      • The mother board
      • The hard disk
      • The optical disk (DVD/CD player/burner)
      • The Wiring
      • Various Ports
    • Creating a wiki page on the ClassWiki system (owned by the Smith CS Department)
      • headers
      • paragraphs
      • boxes
      • lists (numbered or not)
      • images
      • links to other wiki pages in classwiki
      • links to Web pages
    • Warning: Two wikis!

DFTwiki.png

ClassWiki.png


Reading:

Week 3
2/13
    • Disassembling a PC:

Reading:

Week 4
2/20


    • the von Neumann bottleneck
      • Memory vs. processor. What do fingernails and football fields have in common?
      • Attempts to circumvent the bottleneck
        • cache memory
        • multicore architectures
MultiCorePerformance.jpg

  • Reading
    • Primary
      • Jon von Neumann, who first defined the architecture of modern computers. We are still building computers according to his original unpublished draft
    • Secondary
Week 5
2/27
  • Monday
    • Moore's Law

MooresLaw.jpg




Primary:

Secondary

Week 6
3/5
  • Monday
    • Projects in Processing
    • Review of past homework assignments
    • The Singularity: Introduction























  • Wednesday
    • Quiz
    • Class discussion: The singularity
FoodForThought.jpg













Week 7
3/12


Take Home Exam Week


Week 7
3/19


Spring Break











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