MACS 341
Spring 2003

Course Objectives and Goals

This course covers two main topics: (1) organization of computer hardware and (2) programming in assembly language. The course uses the SPIM simulator to provide experience with the MIPS instruction set and architecture. Upon completion of this course, you should understand:

Textbook (required)

John Hennessy & David Patterson, Computer Organization and Design, the Hardware/Software Interface

Final

Final exam will be Monday, May 5, 7-9 pm in room CO 131.

Lecture Notes

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 Test Objectives
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Test Objectives
Chapter 6
Chapter 6 Test Objectives
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Test Objectives
Chapter 8

Homework

Chapter 2 Homework DUE: Wednesday, January 22
Homework 2 Solutions
First Chapter 3 Homework DUE: Monday, January 27
Remaining Chapter 3 Homework DUE: varies
Chapter 3 Test Questions Due: Monday, February 17
Chapter 4 Homework DUE: Monday, February 24 (tentative)
Chapter 5 Homework DUE: Wednesday, March 26
Chapter 6 Homework DUE: Monday, April 14

Presentation

Each group should prepare a 10-minute presentation about a topic related to MACS 341 material. The presentation may be divided into two 5-minute talks. The presentation should be based on a short article or articles, possibly from the web. Each talk should include 1-2 slides for the overhead.

In addition to the presentation, the group should write a 1/2 to 1 page summary of the article, which should be turned in at the time of the presentation. The paper should be typed, and should be grammatical with no spelling errors.

Presentation Schedule

Exercises

Solutions for Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Exercises
Solutions for Chapter 4
Exercises for Chapter 5
Solutions for Chapter 5
Exercises for Chapter 6
Solutions for Chapter 6
Exercises for Chapter 7
Solutions for Chapter 7 Part 1
Solutions for Chapter 7 Part 2

Programs

SPIM demo program
Debug demo

Additional Information

Address for SPIM simulator: ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/pub/spim

Address for ssh software to load your programs onto larkspur, available ONLY from a CSM internet connection: http://www.mines.edu/academic/computer/software/ssh
NOTE: You must use the Ascii mode for file transfers. From the Operation menu, the last option is File Transfer Mode. From this submenu, select Ascii. Then transfer your files.

If you cannot download ssh, you may use ftp to transfer the file onto slate, then use SCP to transfer to larkspur.

To run xpim on larkspur, you must be in an x-windows session. You should be in the directory that contains your asm files. Then you can run spim by typing: ~cs341/common/spim/xspim
Once spim is running, choose the load option to load your file.