Problem Set 1 on Information and Representation

January 16th, 2007

Here are some problems to help you think through the material in the next two lectures. These are due before class on Tuesday 23 January. Solutions

Information and Computers

January 16th, 2007

Today we’ll look at a bit of Information Theory and then begin looking under the covers. You’ll find the slides for today’s lecture here. Lecture 2 as PDF

Introduction

January 11th, 2007

Introduction slides. We won’t do much today but we’ll pick up steam next time. Lecture 1 as PDF.

Welcome!

January 9th, 2007
Welcome to Comp 411 Computer Organization for Spring 2007. I’ll be using this web site to keep you up to date on class happenings. I’m still debating how best to use Wordpress for our class. Tell me what you think using the comments on this posting.I think I’ll try using the blog feature to post our daily slides and handouts. I’ll make some categories for the posts so that you can easily look at assignments, lecture slides, or other info.

I’m looking forward to this class. We will pull back the covers and see how computers really work. Many students find this class very difficult because you have to deal with many levels of abstraction. This is good preparation for a career in computer science where we constantly deal with systems that are way too complicated to understand without abstraction.

I’ll play some of my favorite music just before class each day. Come early to expand your musical horizons!