Computer Systems Architecture 2

CSA2 is a 2'nd year unit in the School of Computer Science. It aims to give the student some insight into the layers of abstraction that separate a typical application or even high-level-language programmer from the underlying hardware of the machine.

The course splits into two roughly even components. The first deals with low-level detail such as number representation, procedure calls, registers, I/O devices etc through the lens of an assembly language - students learn to program in MIPS assembly language (SAL and MAL).

The second component deals with operating system concepts such as file system, process, and security management. Unix utilities and system calls serve as the practical tool for understanding this portion of the course.

The Assessment Procedure and Schedule of Lectures and Labs are both available.

Lectures

• Lecture 1 - Computer abstractions. The abstractions that separate the typical user from the underlying hardware.
• Lecture 2 - SAL. MIPS Simple Assembly Language basics.
• Lecture 3 - Number Systems. Fundamental concepts of number systems of relevance to computer representation and manipulation.
• Lecture 4 - Data Representation. Representation of integers, characters & floats within the machine.
• Lecture 5 - Logical Operations. The ALU, shifts & rotates and some basic mathematics.
• Lecture 6 - Data Structures. Memory addresses, one and 2D arrays and address calculation, stacks and queues.
• Lecture 7 - MAL. MIPS Assembly Language instructions.
• Lecture 8 - Procedures. Procedures in MAL, the system stack, argument passing.
• Lecture 9 - The Assembler. Role of the assembler, symbol tables etc.
• Lecture 10 - Low Level I/O. Archetypal devices, programmed I/O, memory mapped I/O, asynchronous I/O, DMA.
• Lecture 11 - Exceptions, interrupts & the Kernel. Classes of exceptions, interrupts, system calls, the kernel.
• Lecture 12 - Performance. Pipelines, memory hierarchies, benchmarking.
• Lecture 13 - Micro Architecture. RISC vs. CISC architecture. The X86 family, the PowerPC family.
• Lecture 14 - Intro to OS. Introduction to major topics of OS: types of OS, common concepts, structure, policy vs. mechanism.
• Lecture 15 - History of OS & system calls. Generations of OS. System calls & system calls under Unix.
• Lecture 16 - Processes. Concept of a process, process state, exceptions & process state.
• Lecture 17 - The Scheduler. Approaches to scheduling processes.
• Lecture 18 - O/S Level I/O and the Disk. Issues of Input and Output at the O/S level. Disk arm scheduling.
• Lecture 19 - Memory Management. Partitions, fragmentation, compaction, processor utilisation, and pages.
• Lecture 20 - Virtual Memory. Paging and virtual memory.
• Lecture 21 - A composite of two topics on file systems, one on File Systems in general (file primitives, directory structures etc.) and the other on File System Performance - directory structures, free block lists, caching etc.
• Lecture 22 - OS Security - types of abuse and attacks, means of providing security.
• Lecture 23 - Viruses - Worms, trojan horses, classes of viruses, vectors for infection, numbers, detection and prevention.
• Lecture 24 - Modern O/S - Concepts of O/S we have covered as applied to Windows 95 and Unix.
• Lecture 25 - Review - Revision of the major topics covered by the course.

Essays and Presentations

Each student is asked to prepare a 3000-word essay on a topic of relevance to computer architecture as well as make a short presentation to the class on that topic.

The full details and list of topics are available.

Presentation details are available detailing time, venue, and expectations of the lecturer.

Assignments

• Assignment 1 - Introduction to the Spim (R2000) Simulator and some simple programming.
• Assignment 2 - Programming in SAL and base conversions.
• Assignment 3 - Machine Representation (SAL programming).
• Assignment 4 - Stacks & Memory.
• Assignment 5 - Arrays & Procedures in MAL.
• Assignment 6 - Pipelines & Code Optimisation in MAL.
• Assignment 7 - System Calls.
• Assignment 8 - Processes.
• Assignment 9 - I/O.
• Assignment 10 - File System.

Solutions

Important Notes

• Simulator Notes - Documentation describing how to drive the MIPS R2000 Simulator that is employed in the first portion of the course.
• SAL Notes - SAL (Simple Abstract Assembler) language notes. The instructions that compose the MIPS RISC SAL language.
• Using Unix System Calls - Warren Toomey's notes on using system calls under Unix.

Links of Interest

• Tom's Hardware - reviews and bencmarks of the latest PC hardware. A must stop for those obsessed with the latest and the best.
• Anand Tech - another excellent hardware (and software) review site.
• Ars Technica - With a by-line of The PC enthusiast's resource this is a seriously useful site with surprisingly erudite and well researched articles that further enhance the solid technical data and recommendations.
• Intel Secrets - with the byline of "what intel doesn't want you to know" you can tell its about Pentium bugs etc. Lots of useful information there.
• The PC Guide - a truly comprehensive and informative guide to all things PC. Excellent!
• storeagereview.com - a site dedicated solely to reviewing storage hardware.
• Dr. Solomon's Online - well known commercial provider of Anti-virus software. Lots of virus related information including virus alerts and general information.
• The Bios Survival Guide - The inner workings and configuration of the PC's BIOS (Basic Input Output System) or `kernel'. Excellent for system tweakers.
• PC Webopaedia - an online encyclopaedia (more like a dictionary) of computer terminology. A good place to look if you want a quick definition of a term.
• bootNet - online PC magazine.
• ReviewFinder - index and links to online reviews of all kinds of PC hardware.
• PC Magazine Online - ZDNet's online PC magazine.
• PC World Online - online PC magazine.
• Standard Performance Evaluation Group - the single best known organisation for bechmarking computer performance.

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