Computersystemen

Computer Systems

Studiewijzer 2024/2025

Globale inhoud

Computer systems form the backbone of science, education and society in general.  They power our digital infrastructure, help us transmit and secure our communications and enhance our ability to analyze data and perform inference.

As a result, building efficient computer systems and applications is essential for sustainability and progress. This course performs an in-depth exploration of how computing systems are built and how they operate, highlighting the impact these decisions have on how such systems are and should be programmed. Lectures commence from basic data representations, introduce low-level programming and finally delve into the processor architecture and memory hierarchies, while keeping performance and optimization as focal points.

Studiemateriaal

Literatuur

• For the lectures and lab assignments:
  
  R.E. Bryant and D. O'Hallaron Computer Systems - A Programmer's Perspective, 3rd International edition; Prentice Hall, 2015.
  
  Note that the book teaches datatypes and x86 assembly while often linking them to the C language. We are gradually trying to make the course less dependent on C. Thus we encourage you to prioritize in your reading the datatypes and assembly instructions and less their exact C translation. 
  
  For the digital methods:
  
  Ben Bruidegom, Van 0 en 1 tot pipeline processor

Syllabus

Software

• • Linux operating system
  • gcc compiler 
  • gdb debugger 
  • cachegrind

Overig

• your laptop

Leerdoelen

• The student will gain insight into the construction and operation of computers, and the interaction between hardware and software
• The student will understand the basic principles of parallelism in systems and applications
• The student will improve programming skills by gaining insight in the actual workings of computer systems, understanding data representation and the x86 assembly language
• The students will be able to analyze the performance of computer systems
• The student will understand how hardware implementations can assist and accelerate artificial intelligence computations.

Onderwijsvormen

• Hoorcollege
• Laptopcollege
• Zelfstudie
• Werkcollege

The course consistis of 3 parts: lectures, lab assignments and digital methods

The lectures cover the theory of computer systems and the lab assignments expand on this theory. Both typically start from software and reach the hardware layer (top-bottom approach). The digital methods part covers the processor internals and links the underlying hardware to software (bottom-up approach).

Verdeling leeractiviteiten

Aanwezigheid

Aanwezigheidseisen opleiding (OER-B):

• Voor practica en werkgroepbijeenkomsten met opdrachten geldt een aanwezigheidsplicht. De invulling van deze aanwezigheidsplicht kan per vak verschillen en staat aangegeven in de studiewijzer. Wanneer studenten niet voldoen aan deze aanwezigheidsplicht kan het onderdeel niet met een voldoende worden afgerond.
  

Aanvullende eisen voor dit vak:

Attendance in the lectures, labs and digital methods is not compulsory.
To pass the Lab Assignments however you need to briefly demonstrate them to the TAs.
The extra-point quizzes are carried out during the lectures.

Toetsing

• The Exam 1 constitutes 25% of the grade, it is mandatory and covers the first half of the course
• The Exam 2 constitutes 25% of the grade, it is mandatory and covers the second half of the course
• The Lab Assignments constitute 30% of the grade
• The Digital Methods constitute 20% of the grade
• The lecture quizzes give 1 extra point, using the best 10 quiz results.
  The lecture quizzes are carried out during the lectures.
  
  
• In case of resit, the Resit Exam constitutes 50% of the grade, it is mandatory and it covers the whole course

Opdrachten

Lab assignments are carried out in teams of 2 students

Fraude en plagiaat

Dit vak hanteert de algemene 'Fraude- en plagiaatregeling' van de UvA. Hier wordt nauwkeurig op gecontroleerd. Bij verdenking van fraude of plagiaat wordt de examencommissie van de opleiding ingeschakeld. Zie de Fraude- en plagiaatregeling van de UvA: http://student.uva.nl

Weekplanning

Aanvullende informatie

• The course language and content for lectures and lab sessions/assignments is in English
• The course content of digital methods is in Dutch

Contactinformatie

Coördinator

• dr. Kostas Papagiannopoulos

Communication channels:

• Join the Teams channel for direct messages
• find Kostas in office L5.27 in Lab42 on Fridays after 14:00 
• mail us in the Canvas Inbox
• mail us in the course's mailing list here:    computersystems@list.uva.nl
• mail us directly: Kostas Papagiannopoulos (k.papagiannnopoulos@uva.nl), Dolly Sapra (d.sapra@uva.nl), Bas Terwijn (B.Terwijn@uva.nl), Toon  van Gelderen (t.vangelderen@uva.nl)

Communication guidelines:

• For questions about the lectures: ask Kostas or Dolly, depending on the lecture
• For questions about the digital methods: ask Bas
• For questions about the lab assignments and sessions: ask Toon and your TAs
• For general administrative questions: ask Kostas