CS 2461: Computer Architecture I

Fall 2019 Lecture Notes.

You should also refer to the lecture notes available from the textbook website.
The lecture notes posted are not meant to substitute for the text -- you are required to read the textbook before (and after) each class. Some of the lecture notes use slides from the textbook website.

The lecture notes posted are a superset of what I will go over during the lecture -- the notes posted here provide, in some cases, more details than what we will cover in the lecture. You should read the lecture topics before coming to class - either from the textbook, the posted notes, reference books, or the link I have posted (in particular, for the first 4-6 weeks of the courses, it is strongly recommend that you read the notes posted on blackboard).

Course Introduction
Module 1: Data Representation

Number Representations -- Datatypes: Part 1

More data representation: Bit manipulation and operators in C

Module 2: Digital Logic

Circuit Simulators:

CEDAR Logic Simulator - this is the circuit simulation tool we will be using

A logic simulator took for Mac OS X

Atanua Logic Simulator - This simulates the 7400 series logic chips you will be using in the labs. It is not a stable simulation so beware!

Introduction: Building Logic Gates using transistors

Examples (Cedar Logic file)

Design of Combinational Logic Circuits

Assigned Reading: Review Boolean Algebra and Karnaugh Maps

Design of Sequential Logic Circuits

Examples of Sequential Circuits -- Refer to this while reading notes above

Designing Finite State Machines

Examples of Finite State Machines

Sequential Logic Devices

Module 3: von Neuman Module and Instruction Set Architecture/Assembly Programming

Introduction to von Neuman Model of Computer Architecture

Intro to LC3 ISA

In-Class LC3 code examples

Datapath Design

Examples- datapath.cdl

LC3 Assembler - Intro

Assembly Program-Example1

EXAM 1- OCTOBER 10 (closed book/notes).

I/O in LC3: Trap Routines in Assembly

Subroutines in Assembly

In-Class Subroutines

Data for InClass- array1.obj

In hex format - array1.hex. assemble using hex to obj option

Data for InClass - array2.obj

In hex format - array2.hex

Stack in Assembly, Interrupts

Module 4: C Programming and Translating C programs to Assembly

Intro to C

Activation Records and Function Calls

Arrays and Pointers

In-Class Nov5 - C code

compile on shell.seas.gwu.edu - using ssh to login and gcc to compile

C to LC3 Pointers&Array Code

Files and I/O in C

Heap- Malloc, Dynamic memory allocation, Data Structures

EXAM 2 - Nov 19 (Chapters 5-19)

Module 5: Memory Hierarchy and Program Performance

Overview of Computer System Performance and Introduction to Memory Hierarchy & Cache Organization

Code Optimization - optimizing for performance

Code Optimization- InClass/Quiz9

Course Summary

Some online notes that I found to be well written and quite useful are posted on Blackboard - they were written by the instructor for
a similar course at Univ. of Maryland. They come highly recommended.

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