Comp 120 Computer Organization

Fall 2001

Meetings: Monday/Wednesday 9:30-10:45 in Sitterson 014

Instructor: Gary Bishop, Sitterson 255, 962-1886, gb@cs.unc.edu

Teaching Assistants:

Fang-Yi Tsai, Sitterson 041, 962-1916 tsai@cs.unc.edu

Office Hours: Monday 3:30-5:30 and Friday 10am-12pm

Text: Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface by David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy.

Software: The SPIM simulator developed by James R. Larus will be used for many of the assignments. It is available on ATN machines and/or you may download it to your own machine as described on page xviii of your book.

Web Page: http://www.cs.unc.edu/~gb/Comp120Fall2001. All class handouts will be distributed via the web page. It is your responsibility to watch for updates and assignments.

Exams and Grading

Exam 1: (10%) Wednesday 19 September.

Last day to drop: Monday 1 October.

Exam 2: (20%) Wednesday 31 October.

Final Exam: (40%) Monday 10 December at 8AM. This date and time is fixed by the Office of the Registrar and is not negotiable. Attendance at the final exam is mandatory. If you are absent from the final exam, your grade will be recorded as AB, AB/F or FA as required by College policy.

Each of the exams will be cumulative.

Assignments: (30%) Approximately 10 required assignments.

Late Homework Policy: Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the specified due date. Programs and homework assignments will be penalized 25% if later than the beginning of class but by the beginning of the next class and 50% if turned in by the beginning of the second session after the due date. No credit will be given for assignments submitted after the beginning of the second class session following the due date.

The above percentages add up to 100%, but I reserve the right to apply a 10% fudge factor to give consideration to things such as good class participation, stellar programs, improving program scores over the semester, and bona fide extenuating circumstances.

Making up homework and examinations: Serious illness, a death in the family, and activities such as intramural meets and student exchange programs can justify waiving or relaxing the usual rules for class work and examinations. But the vicissitudes of student life, including the consequences of procrastination and commitments to other courses, cannot. In circumstances that merit special treatment, documentation is usually available to the student, and I feel most comfortable when a request for special consideration is accompanied by appropriate written material supporting the request. In cases where events that will interfere with course work are foreseen, a student should discuss the matter with me well before the work is due.

Incompletes. An incomplete will only be given for serious emergencies. Documentation (such as a physician’s note) is required.

Cooperation and Honor Code:

1. You are encouraged and expected to discuss the material in class and all assignments among yourselves.

2. You are permitted to discuss all aspects of the assignments with anyone.

3. Keys for nearly all homework and programs will be distributed about a week after the due date. You are not permitted to use the homework or program keys from previous semesters, nor to share the ones received in this course with Comp 120 students in future semesters.

4. You are encouraged and permitted to discuss and cooperate on all written assignments, but you are expected to understand all material that you submit.

5. You are encouraged to discuss all programming assignments, but not your solutions. Specifically,

a. To make learning to use the SPIM simulator easier, you are free to seek help from any source for the first two programming assignments. The programs you hand in must be your own work, but they can be based on unlimited help in all aspects from any sources whatsoever. You should cite in the documentation of your programs anyone who you worked with to complete your assignment.

b. The rest of the programs are to be done independently by each student. For details on how the Honor Code applies to these programs, consult the handout 'Honor Code Observation in Computer Science Courses.'

6. You are prohibited from posting answers to questions from the textbook on the web where the will be accessible to students at other universities.

22 August2001