Systems Programming and Computer Architecture - Fall 2012

What's new?

• Dec. 17: Slides for Lectures 25&26 are up.
• Dec. 13: Assignment 11 is up.
• Dec. 10: Slides for Lectures 23&24 are up.
• Dec. 4: Sample solutions for Assignments 6 & 7 are up.
• Nov. 26: Slides for Lecture 19&20 are up
• Nov. 22: Assignment 8 is up.
• Nov. 19: Slides for Lecture 17&18 are up.
• Nov. 15: Assignment 7 is up.
• Nov. 14: Sample solutions for Assignments 4 & 5 are up.
  

Schedule

Assignments

Solutions (password protected)

Overview

This course introduces the fundamental concepts, mechanisms, and techniques that underpin how computer systems process information, execute programs, and interact with the outside world. We focus on computing immediately above and below the boundary between hardware and software, and expose students to the practical issues that affect performance, portability, robustness, and extensibility through assembly language, the C programming language, and computer hardware from the perspective of systems software.

Topics include:

• Representing information in computer systems
• Systems programming in C
• Assembly language and compiled code
• Sequential, pipelined, and multicore processor design
• Caches and the memory hierarchy
• Performance optimization and performance measurement
• Devices, I/O, traps, and DMA
• Memory management

Main Text and Reference books

• R. Bryant, D. O'Hallaron: Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, 2^nd ed. 2002, Prentice Hall.
• B. Kernighan, D. Ritchie: C Programming Language, 2^nd ed. 1988, Prentice Hall.

Recommended Text and Reference books

• D. Patterson, J. Hennessy: Computer Organization and Design, 4^nd ed. 2008, Morgan Kaufmann.
• S. Harbison, G. Steele: C: A Reference Manual, 5^nd ed. 1994, Prentice Hall.
• S. Oualline: Practical C Programming, 1997, O'Reilly.
• S. Prata: C Primer Plus, 2004, Sams.
• U Kirch-Prinz, P. Prinz: C Pocket Reference, 2002, O'Reilly.
• Intel publishes a lot of material covering the IA-32 processors. The official web site for IA-32 and Intel 64 documentation is here.

Additional Material

• IA32 Cheat Sheet (GNU assembler format)
• Summary of GDB commands for IA32 Systems
• gprof Tutorial
• ns16550 data sheet
• DECchip 21140A data sheet

Lecturer

• Timothy Roscoe (troscoe at inf) CAB F79 (En)

Staff

• Ercan Ucan (eucan at inf) CAB E69 (En)
• Qin Yin (qyin at inf) CAB E73.2 (En)
• Adrian Schüpbach (scadrian at inf) CAB E78 (De)
• Stefan Kästle (skaestle at inf) CAB E69 (De)
• Simon Gerber (simugerber at student) CAB F69 (De)

Hilfsassistenten

• Antoine Kaufmann (antoinek at student) (DE)
• Daniel Jost (dajost at student) (DE)
• Michael Och (ochm at student) (DE)

Course Hours

Lecture

• Tue 10-12h, CAB G 61: Timothy (En)
• Wed 10-12h, CAB G 61: Timothy (En)

Exercise

• Thu, 13-15h, CHN G 46
• Thu, 13-15h, IFW A 32.1
• Thu, 13-15h, IFW C 33
• Thu, 13-15h, LFW C 1
• Thu, 13-15h, ML J 34.1

Exercise Groups

Group 1(En): LFW C 1 (Ercan & Qin)

Group 2(En): IFW A 32.1 (Stefan & Simon)

Group 3(De): CHN G 46 (Antoine)

Group 4(De): IFW C 33 (Daniel)

Group 5(De): ML J 34.1 (Michael)