CO1020 Computer Systems Programming

CO1020

Computer Systems Programming

5

Core

Overview of computer systems and the programming process: Abstractions in software (from algorithms to machine code) and hardware (from silicon to microarchitecture), Von Neumann machine concept, organization of a computer system (application software, system software, instructions & microarchitecture, memory, peripheral hardware such as secondary storage and networking, firmware), the process of building and executing programs (pre-processing, compiling, assembling, linking, storing/loading, execution in a GNU/Linux environment)Introduction to C programming syntax: Comments, variables, data types, type casting, operators, expressions, flow control (conditions, loops, interrupting loop flow, program termination), statements & blocks, library functions, basic user inputs & outputs. Structured programming: Functions syntax, naming conventions, parameter passing by value and reference, recursion. Error detection and prevention: Syntax/semantic/logical errors, compile-time/run-time errors, assertions, debugging tools (GNU debugger), good practices in programming, testing to verify correctness using proper test cases. Memory allocation and peripheral I/O: Memory layout (stack, heap, global data, code/text), stack tracing for debugging, static memory allocation, arrays, string representation, string manipulation, pointers, structures, file input and output, network socket programming. Assembly language programming: Introduction to assembly syntax using a specified ISA, integer arithmetic and logic operations using register/immediate operands, branching and conditional execution, function calls, register conventions, stack operations, nested calls, accessing data memory.

• ● Randal E. Bryant, David R. O'Hallaron, Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective 3rd Edition, 2015 ● Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie, The C Programming Language, Second Edition, 1990 ● Jeffrey D. Ullman, Alfred V. Aho, Foundations of Computer Science C Edition, 1994 ● David Patterson, John L. Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface