15-213 Introduction to Computer Systems

Spring 2005

Frank Pfenning

Lecture, TuTh 9:00-10:20, WeH 7500

12 units

This course provides a programmer's view of how computer systems execute programs, store information, and communicate. It enables students to become more effective programmers, especially in dealing with issues of performance, portability and robustness. It also serves as a foundation for courses on compilers, networks, operating systems, and computer architecture, where a deeper understanding of systems-level issues is required. Topics covered include: machine-level code and its generation by optimizing compilers, performance evaluation and optimization, computer arithmetic, memory organization and management, networking technology and protocols, and supporting concurrent computation.

Prerequisites: 15-113 System Skills in C, and 15-211 Fundamental Data Structures and Algorithms

What's New?

(03/30) Lecture tomorrow (Thu) is canceled since I have lost my voice. Lecture material on System-Level I/O is available on-line, but will not be tested in Exam 2. However, it will appear on the final.
(03/30) There will be review session on Sunday, 7:30-9:30pm in WeH 7500, as before the last exam.
(03/30) The room arrangements for Exam 2 are as for Exam 1:
Sections A, B, and C (10:30, 11:30, 12:30) go to WeH 7500
Sections D, E, and F (1:30, 2:30 and 3:30) go to DH 2210
(03/30) I found out from Greg Morrisett that Cyclone is currently not signal-safe, because operations on fat pointers are not atomic as they should be. The design for a signal- and thread-safe version of Cyclone exists in Dan Grossman's thesis, but has not been implemented yet.
(03/29) My office hours for today are canceled. I should be available after lecture on Thursday (03/31).
(03/29) Cyclone (Lecture 20) is not covered in the textbook. See an introductory paper and the Cyclone home page.
(03/29) The due date for Lab 6 (malloc) has been pushed back to Tue Apr 12.
(03/24) Garbage collection (Lecture 19) is only given cursory treatment in the textbook.
See a survey paper (pp 1-17) for the concepts covered in lecture (full paper).
(03/03) Remember the quiz right after spring break which covers Lectures 13 (linking), 14 (exceptions), and 15 (signals), that is, most of Chapters 7 and 8. Out Monday, 4:30pm, due Tuesday 11:30pm.
(02/24) A model solution for Exam 1 is now available.

Course Material

Schedule	Lecture schedule, slides, recitation notes, readings, and code
Assignments	Details of assignments, due dates, and policies
Exams	Information about quizzes, exams, and final
Lab Machines	Instructions for using the lab machines
Resources	Additional course resources

Course Information

Lectures	TuTh 9:00-10:20, WeH 7500
Recitations	Section A, Mon 10:30-11:20, OSC 203, Kun Gao Section B, Mon 11:30-12:20, OSC 203, Boris Sofman Section C, Mon 12:30-1:20, OSC 203, Ben Rister Section D, Mon 1:30-2:20, OSC 203, Naju Mancheril Section E, Mon 2:30-3:20, OSC 203, Umang Kajaria Section F, Mon 3:30-4:20, OSC 203, Kevin Litwack
Textbooks	Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron, Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, Prentice Hall, 2003 (The authors are donating the royalties from CMU book sales to CMU, to be used for CMU undergraduates)
	Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie, The C Programming Language, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 1988
Credit	12 units
Grading	60% Labs(7), 10% Quizzes(7+1), 15% Midterm Exams(2), 15% Final Exam
Labs	There are 7 labs worth a total of 600 points
Quizzes	There are 8 quizzes, in recitation, worth 15 points each The lowest score is dropped, so the total is 100 (+5 extra) points.
Midterms	There are 2 midterm exams, in class, open book Exam 1, Tue Feb 22, Ch 1-6, 75 points Exam 2, Tue Apr 5, Ch 7-8,10-11, 75 points
Final	There is a final, open book, worth 150 points Tue May 3, 5:30pm-8:30pm in UC McConomy
Home	http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~fp/courses/15213-s05/
Newsgroup	news:cmu.cs.class.cs213 Usually checked at least once a day For faster turnaround, e-mail the teaching assistants
Blackboard	http://www.cmu.edu/blackboard/ Used only for tracking of grades
Directories	/afs/cs.cmu.edu/academic/class/15213-s05/

Instructor

	Frank Pfenning
Contact	fp@cs or x8-6343
Office	Wean Hall 8117
Office Hours	Tue 3:00-4:00

Teaching Assistants

Contact Recitation Office Hours

Kun Gao kgao@cs.cmu.edu Section A
Mon 10:30-11:20, OSC 203 Wed 1pm-2pm, Thu 2pm-3pm
Doherty 4302D

Boris Sofman bsofman@andrew.cmu.edu Section B
Mon 11:30-12:20, OSC 203 Tue 12:30-1:30, Fri 1:30-2:30
WeH 3108

Ben Rister bdr@cs.cmu.edu Section C
Mon 12:30-1:20, OSC 203 Mon 3:15-4:30pm
Doherty 4302D

Naju Mancheril naju@cmu.edu Section D
Mon 1:30-2:20, OSC 203 Thu 3:30-4:30
WeH 3108

Umang Kajaria ukajaria@andrew.cmu.edu Section E
Mon 2:30-3:20, OSC 203 Wed 1:30-2:30
WeH 3108

Kevin Litwack klitwack@andrew.cmu.edu Section F
Mon 3:30-4:20, OSC 203 Tue & Thu 6:30-7:30 pm
[new]WeH 5th Floor Cluster (5201/5203)

Course Assistant

	Jennifer Landefeld
Contact	jennsbl@cs.cmu.edu
Office	Wean Hall 8120

fp@cs
Frank Pfenning