Concordia University
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
COEN 311 – Computer Organization and Software (3.5 credits)
Fall 2015 Course Outline
Professor:
Anjali Agarwal, PhD, P.Eng.
Office: EV 5.157
Telephone: 514-848-2424 Ext.3090
Email: aagarwal@ece.concordia.ca
Office hours: Tuesdays, 12:30 - 14:30 or by appointment
Course webpage: http://users.encs.concordia.ca/~aagarwal/coen311/coen311.html
1. Calendar Description
Prerequisite: COEN 212, 243, previously or concurrently. Introduction and terminology. Overview
of the functional units and the operation of a computer. Machine programming fundamentals:
instruction structure, addressing modes, the assembly process, examples of architectures. Case
study of a microprocessor architecture: programming model, assembler and addressing modes,
instruction set and formats; programming examples. Stacks, subroutines, macros, exceptions,
interrupts. Program and interrupt driven I/O. Memory management. Introduction to system
software: system kernel, system services, assemblers, compilers, linkers and loaders, user-level
view of operating systems. Lectures: three hours per week. Tutorial: one hour per week.
Laboratory: 15 hours total.
2. Course Objectives
The objective of this course is to introduce the basic concepts of the computer organization and
structure from both the hardware and software viewpoints. Students will learn the principal
components of a computer system and their operational and design concepts. They will also learn
how assembly language instructions are represented and decoded following different modes of
addressing, which teaches them to write assembly language programs using the concepts of
stacks, subroutines and macros. The course also teaches students how to analyze computer
system and implement efficient assembly solutions.
3. Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to
1.
Describe the principle components of a computer system.
2.
Describe how memory is organized and the different internal architectures of a CPU.
3.
Describe how memory and CPU interface for instruction execution.
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4.
Describe machine programming and assembly programming concepts, including instruction
set and formats, assembly modes, flow control, and parameter passing techniques.
5.
Apply assembly programming concepts to demonstrate skills in implementing efficient
assembly programming solutions.
6.
Analyze performance of assembly language programs with respect to their execution time
and size.
7.
Demonstrate skills in debugging existing assembly language programs.
8.
Recognize alternative computer organizations and instruction formats.
4. Graduate Attributes
This course emphasizes and develops the following CEAB (Canadian Engineering Accreditation
Board) graduate attributes and indicators:
Graduate Attribute
Indicator
Level of knowledge
CLO
Knowledge Base
KB-3. Knowledge base in a specific
domain (ELEC and COEN)
PA-1. Problem identification and
formulation
PA-2. Modelling
PA-3. Problem solving
PA-4. Analysis
DE-1. Define the objective
DE-2. Idea generation and selection
DE-3. Detailed design
DE-4. Validation and implementation
UET-1. Ability to use appropriate
tools, techniques, and resources
UET-2. Ability to select appropriate
tools, techniques, and resources
Intermediate
1, 2, 3,
4
3, 5, 6,
7
Problem Analysis
Design
Use of Eng. Tools
Intermediate
Intermediate
2, 4, 5,
8
Intermediate
4, 5, 6,
7
5. Evaluation
There will be six (6) assignments to be solved at home and not marked. One week after receiving
an assignment you will write a 10 min Quiz constituting of at least one question selected from the
latest assignment (plus questions on basic understanding of the topics in the assignment). There
will be 6 quizzes in total – the best 5 out of 6 will be counted towards 15% of the final grade.
There will be a midterm exam for 20% of the final grade, and a final exam for 50% of the final
grade.
There will be five (5) labs (alternate weeks) that will count towards 15% of the final grade.
Note: The student will fail the course if he/she does not secure at least 50% in the laboratory
component of the course. Lab exemption is NOT allowed.
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Evaluation tool
Weight
Option 1
Option 2
Assignment 1/ Quiz 1
Assignment 2/ Quiz 2
3%
3%
3%
3%
Assignment 3/ Quiz 3
Assignment 4/ Quiz 4
3%
3%
3%
3%
Assignment 5/ Quiz 5
Assignment 6/ Quiz 6
Lab 1
Lab 2
Lab 3
Lab 4
Lab 5
Lab Test
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
5%
20%
50%
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
5%
0%
70%
Indicator
KB-3, PA-1, PA-3, PA-4, DE-1, DE-3
KB-3, PA-1, PA-2, PA-3, PA-4, DE-1,
DE-2, DE-4
KB-3, PA-1, PA-4, DE-1, DE-4
KB-3, PA-1, PA-2, PA-3, PA-4, DE-1,
DE-2, DE-3, DE-4
KB-3, PA-4, DE-3, DE-4
KB-3, DE-3, DE-4
UET-1
UET-1, UET-2
UET-1, UET-2
UET-1, UET-2
UET-1, UET-2
UET-1, UET-2
KB-3, PA-1, PA-2-PA-3, PA-4, DE-4
KB-3, PA-1, PA-2-PA-3, PA-4, DE-1,
DE-2, DE-3, DE-4
Note:
o
o
o
There is no standard relationship between percentages and letter grades assigned for the
course.
The pass mark for the course is 50%.
Assignments, quizzes, and exams may include theoretical as well as programming problems.
6. Course Organization
6.1. Lectures, Tutorials, and Labs
There will be two lectures a week. Each lecture lasts approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. The
course slides will be posted on the course website. It is highly recommended to review the slides
before you come to class. Note that slides are not “lecture notes”; you are responsible for creating
your own notes. You may also periodically refer to the recommended textbooks.
The lectures for COEN 311/2 are scheduled on: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:45pm to 4:00pm
Room H501.
The tutorials for COEN 311/2 are scheduled on: Thursdays from 1:15pm to 2:05pm Room H401,
and will start the first week of class.
The lab for COEN 311 is a biweekly lab. Check your personal registration schedule for the
scheduling details of your lab section. Labs commence the week of Sept. 21, 2015 for QJ section,
and the week of Sept. 28, 2015 for QI and QK sections.
More details on labs can be found in ‘Laboratory Guidelines’ document on the course website.
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6.2. Textbook
Recommended Optional Textbooks:
1. Course pack number 978-1-77079-350-7 Computer Organization and Software, by Dr. Tahar.
2. "Computer Organization" Fifth Edition by Hamacher, Vranesic and Zaky, McGraw Hill, 2002.
ISBN: 0-07-232086-9.
Other references:
1. "Computer Organization and the MC68000'' by Panos E. Livadas and Christopher Ward,
Prentice Hall, 1993. ISBN: 0-13-158940-7.
2. "Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface" by David A.
Patterson, John L. Hennessy, Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN:1-5580-491-X.
3. "Computer Architecture and Design: Designing for Performance", by William Stallings,
Prentice Hall, ISBN: 0-13-035119-9.
Additional resources such as interesting Internet links will be posted on the course website.
6.3. Assignment/Quiz Schedule
The assignment and Quiz schedule is as follows:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Assignment posted on
Thursday 24 September
Thursday 8 October
Thursday 15 October
Tuesday 03 November
Tuesday 17 November
Thursday 26 November
Quiz Dates
Thursday, 01 Oct
Thursday, 15 October
Thursday, 5 November
Thursday, 12 November
Tuesday, 24 November
Thurday, 03 December
Notes:
 All assignments are of individual type.
 There is no need to submit the assignments.
 10 min Quizzes will be held during the lectures.
6.4. Midterm Exam
The midterm exam is scheduled for: Thursday Oct 29. The midterm will take place during the
regular class schedule in lecture room. All the material covered before the exam date will be
included in the exam.
No make-up midterm exam will be set. Absence from the midterm regardless of the reason will
automatically result in zero mark on that.
6.5. Final Exam
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The final exam is scheduled by the University. The date and place will be announced later.
Final exam will cover the whole course material.
7. Tentative Course Plan
REFERENCE
LECT
TOPIC
1
COEN 311 Course Outline
Introduction to Computer System (basic concepts of machine language, assembly
language, structured layer of computer systems – hardware, software, user, performance
criteria of computer system)
2, 3
Data Representation (Binary numbers, Hex numbers, 2’s complement, arithmetic
addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, Floating point numbers, IEEE standard)
4, 5
Memory (Main memory, addressing, big-endian/little-endian, capacity, memory mapping,
memory locality, memory hierarchy - basic concepts of cache, secondary storage and
virtual storage)
Course Slides
6, 7
Central Processing Unit (instruction representation, data transfer between memory and
CPU, General Purpose architecture and Accumulator architecture and their functional
units, instruction execution steps, execution time)
Course Slides
8
Motorola 68000 (principal components, introduction to machine language and assembly
language)
Course Slides
9
Motorola 68000 (Instruction Representation and decoding, introduction to assembly
modes
Course Slides
10
Assembly Modes (Modes 0, 1, 2, 5 and their micro-instructions, writing simple assembly
language programs)
Course Slides
11
Branching instruction (branch always, equal-to, greater-than, less-than, calculating
displacement, dbra instruction)
Hand Assembly (first-pass, and second-pass)
Course Slides
12
Implementing Loops (While, Repeat, For)
Motorola Directives and Constants (Run-time, assembly-time, org, end)
Course Slides
13
Additional Addressing Modes (Modes 3, 4, 6, 7, and Quick data)
Course Slides
14
Logical operations (and, or, eor, not)
Shift and Rotate operations (arithmetic shift, logical shift, simple rotation, extended
rotation)
Bit Manipulation Examples
Course Slides
15
Motorola Instruction Set, and Review
Course Slides
16
Midterm Exam (October 29) during lecture timings
17
Bus Interconnection Scemes (Single-bus, Multiple-bus, Bus arbitration, bus timings)
Input/Output (I/O Module Structure, Introduction to I/O Techniques – Programmed I/O,
Interrupt-driven I/O, DMA)
Course Slides
18
Subroutines (Calls and Returns – jsr, bsr, rts, rtr instructions, concept of Stacks, nested
subroutines)
Course Slides
19,
20
Subroutines (Types of parameters, Passing Parameters – by Register, Memory block,
Stack)
Course Slides
Course Slides
Course Slides
5
LECT
TOPIC
REFERENCE
21
Subroutines (multiple_move, Nested subroutine, recursive subroutine)
Course Slides
22
Macros (difference between macro/subroutine, parameter passing in macros, Labels)
Course Slides
23
Assembly Program Examples (string reversal, prime number, largest number, string
concatenation)
Course Slides
24,
25
Exceptions (Internal, external)
Course Slides
26
Course Review
Course Slides
You may recommend the following Sections numbers from the recommended optional
textbook by Hamacher. However, the Course Slides may not follow these.







Basic Structures of Computers (Chapter 1 - Sections 1.1 - 1.5, 1.7)
Computer Arithmetic (Sections 2.1, 6.1, 6.3, 6.6, 6.7.1)
The Memory System (Section 2.2, 2.3, Chapter 5 - Basics of each memory device)
Basic Processing Unit (Chapter 7 - Sections 7.1 and 7.2 )
Machine Instructions and Program (Sections 2.4 - 2.12)
Input/Output Organization (Chapter 4 - Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.2 )
Motorola 68000 (Chapter 3 - Part II)
8. Academic Honesty
The most common offense under the Academic Code of Conduct is plagiarism which the Code
defines as “the presentation of the work of another person as one’s own or without proper
acknowledgement.”
This could be material copied word for word from books, journals, internet sites, professor’s
course notes, etc. It could be material that is paraphrased but closely resembles the original
source. It could be the work of a fellow student, for example, an answer on a quiz, data for a lab
report, a paper or assignment completed by another student. It might be a paper purchased
through one of the many available sources. Plagiarism does not refer to words alone - it can also
refer to copying images, graphs, tables, and ideas, copying (even with modifications) of program
segments. “Presentation” is not limited to written work. It also includes oral presentations,
computer assignments and artistic works. Finally, if you translate the work of another person into
French or English and do not cite the source, this is also plagiarism.
In Simple Words: Do not copy, paraphrase or translate anything from anywhere without saying
from where you obtained it!
The Academic Code of Conduct is available at:
http://www.concordia.ca/students/academic-integrity/code.html
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