15-213: Introduction to Computer SystemsRandal E. Bryant and Greg GangerCarnegie Mellon UniversityFall 20081 OrganizationClass Web Page: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/˜213Note: Electronic copies of class handouts and lectures can be found on the class web page.Class Message Board: http://autolab.cs.cmu.eduNote: This is the only message board that the 15-213 staff will be monitoring. We will not be using Andrewor Blackboard message boards for this class.Contacting Teaching Staff: Send email to [email protected]. This will go to all of theteaching staff.Note: Please use [email protected] for all questions and concerns, rather than single-person emails,other than scheduling of one-on-one meetings. You will get faster answers, and we will better be able toprovide consistency.Instructors:Randal E. Bryant Greg [email protected] [email protected] 4305, x8-8821 CIC 2208, x8-1297Fri., 3:30–4:30 (NSH 4305) Thu., 3:30–4:30 (CIC 2208)TAs:Taiyang Chen Tessa Eng Elie [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]., 6:30–7:30, (WeH cluster) Thurs., 4:30–5:30, (WeH cluster) Wed., 6:00–7:00, (WeH 3108)Bryant Lee Christopher Lu Swapnil [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]., 3:30–4:30, (WeH 3108) Sun., 3:00–4:00, (WeH cluster) Mon., 5:30–6:30, (WeH 8203)Vijay Prakash Jiri [email protected] [email protected]., 4:00–5:00, (WeH cluster) Wed., 3:30–4:30, (WeH 7205)1Please see the class Web page for up-to-date office hours.Course Assistant:Cindy Chemsak, NSH 4303, x8-7884, [email protected]:Tuesday, Thursday 1:30–2:50pm, Doherty Hall 2210Recitations:A Mon 10:30–11:20 SH 219 Bryant LeeB Mon 10:30–11:20 WEH 5312 Vijay PrakashC Mon 11:30–12:20 SH 214 Swapnil PatilD Mon 12:30–1:20 DH 1217 Tessa EngE Mon 1:30–2:20 WEH 5310 Taiyang ChenF Mon 1:30–2:20 WEH 5312 Jiri SimsaG Mon 2:30–3:20 WEH 5310 Elie KrevatH Mon 3:30–4:20 DH 1112 Christopher Lu2 ObjectivesOur aim in 15-213 is to help you become a better programmer by teaching you the basic concepts underlyingall computer systems. We want you to learn what really happens when your programs run, so that whenthings go wrong (as they always do) you will have the intellectual tools to solve the problem.Why do you need to understand computer systems if you do all of your programming in high level lan-guages? In most of computer science, we’re pushed to make abstractions and stay within their frameworks.But, any abstraction ignores effects that can become critical. As an analogy, Newtonian mechanics ignoresrelativistic effects. The Newtonian abstraction is completely appropriate for bodies moving at less than 0.1c,but higher speeds require working at a greater level of detail.Oversimplifying matters somewhat, our 21x sequence works as follows: 211 is based on a simplified modelof program execution. 212 builds further layers of abstraction. 213 introduces greater detail about systembehavior and operation. This greater detail is needed for optimizing program performance, for workingwithin the finite memory and word size constraints of computers, and for systems-level programming.The following “realities” are some of the major areas where the abstractions we teach in 211/212 breakdown:1. Int’s are not integers, Float’s are not reals. Our finite representations of numbers have significantlimitations, and because of these limitations we sometimes have to think in terms of bit-level repre-sentations.2. You’ve got to know assembly language. Even if you never write programs in assembly, The behavior ofa program cannot be understood sometimes purely based on the abstraction of a high-level language.Further, understanding the effects of bugs requires familiarity with the machine-level model.23. Memory matters. Computer memory is not unbounded. It must be allocated and managed. Memoryreferencing errors are especially pernicious. An erroneous updating of one object can cause a changein some logically unrelated object. Also, the combination of caching and virtual memory provides thefunctionality of a uniform unbounded address space, but not the performance.4. There is more to performance than asymptotic complexity. Constant factors also matter. There aresystematic ways to evaluate and improve program performance.5. Computers do more than execute instructions. They also need to get data in and out and they interactwith other systems over networks.By the end of the course you will understand these “realities” in some detail. As a result, you will beprepared to take any of the upper level systems classes at Carnegie Mellon (both CS and ECE). Even moreimportant, you will have learned skills and knowledge that will help you throughout your career.3 TextbookThe primary textbook for the course isRandal E. Bryant and David R. O’Hallaron, Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective,Prentice Hall, 2003.In addition, we require you to have the following reference book on the C programming language:Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie, The C Programming Language, Second Edition,Prentice Hall, 1988.This is the classic K & R book, the standard against which all reference manuals are compared. It is anessential part of every computer scientist’s library.4 Course OrganizationYour participation in the course will involve five forms of activity:1. Attending the lectures.2. Preparing for and participating in the recitations.3. Laboratory assignments.4. Reading the text.5. Exams3Attendance will not be taken at the lectures or recitation sections. You will be considered responsible for allmaterial presented at the lectures and recitations.Lectures will cover higher-level concepts. Recitations will be more applied, covering important “how-to’s”,especially in using tools that will help you do the labs. In addition, the recitations will help clarify lecturetopics and describe exam coverage.The textbook contains both practice problems within the chapter text and homework problems at the end ofeach chapter. The intention is that you work on the practice problems right as you are reading the book.The answers to these problems are at the end of each chapter. Our experience has been that trying out theconcepts on simple examples helps make the ideas more concrete. In addition, the schedule (at the end ofthis document and on the class web page) shows specific homework problems with each lecture topic. Theintention is that you try
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