http://www.cs.amherst.edu/ccm/cs14

Computer Science 14: Introduction to Computer Systems

Spring 2008

The Instructor

Catherine C. McGeoch
401 Seeley Mudd
Phone: x7913
Send mail to C. C. McGeoch

Texts

There are two required texts for the course. Both are available at the Jeffrey Amherst Bookstore.

Wirth, Digital Circuit Design for Computer Science Students, (Springer).
Patterson and Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design, 3rd edition (Morgan Kaufman).

About the Course

This course will provide an introduction to digital electronics, computer architectures, and operating systems. The course will begin with Boolean logic and the design of combinatorial and sequential circuits; consider design of computer hardware components, microprocessing and interperetation of machine instructions; and then move on to assembly languages and machine architecture. The course will include a brief introduction to operating systems and network communication. A laboratory section will allow students to design and build digital circuits and to develop assembly language programs. Three class hours and one one-hour laboratory per week.

Grades will be based on two tests (100+100), two design projects (50+50), homeworks and almost-weekly lab projects (100), and a final exam (200).

Here is a week-by-week Course Syllabus.

Class Hours

10:00 MWF in 206 Seeley Mudd.
Labs meet on Thursday, at 1pm and 2pm, in Room 006 on the basement level of Seeley Mudd.

Labs and Handouts

Here are the Power Point Datapath Diagrams.
Here is the handout for the design project.
Here is Lab 4.
Here is Lab 3.
Here is Lab 2.
Here is Lab 1.
Here is a page about Boolean Logic
Here are the TTL Data Sheets for the 74 LS Series, showing the pin-out diagrams.
Here are some transistor diagrams for the basic logic gates.