CIS328 - Systems Software and Hardware

Fall 2003, Section 70, M 6:30-9:00, Curtis 110

Course Description

This course is a study of the major features of hardware and software components of a computer system. Computer architecture topics include processor and memory organization, address and instruction formats, computer arithmetic, and interrupts. Operating systems topics include process and memory management, device and resource management, virtual memory, interprocess communication, deadlock, and security.

Prerequisites

CIS 117 and CIS 135.

Course Objectives

Textbook

Englander; The Architecture of Computer Hardware and Systems Software, 3rd edition; Wiley, 2003. ISBN: 0-471-07325-3.

Assessment Overview

Grades for this course will be based on the following assessment items with weights as follows:

Assessment Details

Assignments

Assignments will be written and will consist of textbook problems, or similar type problems.

Through assignments the student gains deeper understanding of concepts presented in class.

Tests

Tests will be written and will consist of short-answer questions, problems, and essays. On test dates, the second half of class will be allocated for the testing period.

Through tests, the student shows competence in course terminology and underlying theoretical concepts, and how those principles apply in specific situations.

Final Exam

The format for the final exam will be the same as that of the tests. About 2/3 of the final exam will be devoted to material not covered on the first two tests. The other 1/3 will draw from material included in the first two tests.

Date Topic
8/25 Ch. 1; Overview
Ch. 2; Number Systems (sec. 2.1-2.6)
9/8 Ch. 4; Representing Integer Data
9/15 Ch. 5; Floating Point Numbers (sec. 5.1-5.3, 5.6-5.9)
Ch. 3; Character Data (sec. 3.1-3.2)
9/22
9/29
Ch. 6; Little Man Computer
Ch. 7; CPU and Memory
9/29 Test 1; Ch. 1-5
10/6 Supp. Ch. 2; Instruction Addressing Modes
Ch. 8; CPU and Memory (sec. 8.1-8.3)
10/20 Ch. 9; Input/Output
10/27 Ch. 10; Computer Peripherals
11/3
11/10
Ch. 13; Operating Systems Overview
Ch. 14; Users View of the Operating System
11/10 Test 2; Ch. 6-10
11/17 Ch. 15; The Internal Operating System
11/24 Ch. 16; File Management
12/1 Ch. 17; Programming Tools
12/8 Ch. 18; Three Operating Systems
TBA Final Exam

Assignments

No. Assigned Due
1 8/25 9/8
2 9/8 9/15
3 9/15 9/22
4 9/29 10/20
5 10/20 11/3
6 11/10 11/24
7 11/24 12/8