Computer Organization Course Research Articles

Microcode simulation in the computer architecture course

There is no doubt that the most difficult topic to teach in a Computer Architecture and Organization course is microprogramming. In this paper the author describes a Pascal programming project in which the students write a simulator for a microprogram. The project has been assigned several times with very satisfying results for both the instructor and the students.

Most computer organization courses are built upside down

Most computer organization courses are built upside down

Evolution of curriculum development: Curriculum 68 and its successors

I appreciate the opportunity to give an account of some of the development of computer science curriculum, particularly as it relates to Curriculum 68. Needless to say, this discussion will be somewhat biased toward my own involvement in some of the developments. My work with computers started back at the University of Illinois in the very early 1950s. The Illiac was in operation in 1951 and there was a course in programming and a course in computer organization. I sat in on both of them and soon started programming applications in physical chemistry. I moved to Georgia Tech in 1955 and soon became deeply involved in setting up a department of information science with the help of an NSF grant. In doing this, I travelled to several different countries and several different organizations in the us, all of them involved in some aspect of information processing. We set up a master's degree program in information science, one of, if not the first, set up in the United States. In the early 1960s, there began to be a lot of discussion at professional conferences on possible courses in computer science or information science. Harry Huskey, president of ACM from 1960 to 1962, asked me to set up a subcommittee on computer science curriculum within the education committee. George Heller was the chairman of the education committee and gave the idea his full support. I assembled a group of people working with computers and we were off and running. Most of the people working with me were directors of computer centers who were themselves either giving courses on how to use computers or overseeing such courses.

EASY/VI—a new instructional computer

In this paper it is suggested a simple hypothetical computer which has been designed to assist teaching of the basic concepts in introductory course in computer organization and assembly language programming. The hypothetical computer and the instructional assembly language presented here have some new features which facilitate learning significantly. They have been designed to be a vehicle in almost all the lectures of the course.

The laboratory component of a computer organization course

The laboratory component of a computer organization course

The UT1000 microprogramming simulator: an educational tool

The concepts of microprogramming and firmware are frequently difficult to explain to computer science students. The subject of firmware is normally introduced in a beginning course of the computer science curriculum, usually as one of many terms for which a definition is memorized, but rarely understood. Even in advanced courses in computer organization or architecture, the concept may remain somewhat abstract to the student. Just as the practice of writing and executing programs in high level languages develops an increased understanding of those languages, writing and executing microprograms aids the student in understanding this concept. This paper describes the UT1000 microprogramming simulator, a software emulator for writing and executing microprograms on a simulated 16 bit CPU built using AMD2901 ALU/register slices and an AMD2910 microprogramming sequencer. The simulator package described here executes on the IBM PC/AT and PS/2 models of microcomputers. In addition to learning microprogramming concepts, the student is exposed to the principles of bit slice architecture, as well.

An IS1 workbench for ACM information system curriculum '81

This paper describes the System Architects' Workbench, a personal computer-based teaching environment for courses in computer organization and systems programming. This tool set provides an integrated learning and teaching environment for computer systems concepts defined in ACM IS Curriculum '81 IS1. The central tool is a computer simulator based on a pedagogical model of computer system resources which allows students to study principles without becoming too involved in the implementation idiosyncrasies usually associated with machine level programming. Programs may be written directly in machine language or in a Pascal-like language, TP, which includes features that allow complete access to and control of host level resources. The TP compiler supports separate compilation, IPL load module generation, and detailed translation output used for machine language modification and debugging. The simulator supports interactive execution, tracing, modification, and debugging.

Microprogramming a watch: tools for a course in computer organization

This paper describes a software simulator of a digital watch programmable at the microprogram level and used for instructional purposes in a computer organization course. A special editor for writing microcode is also introduced.

Kicking off a course in computer organization and Assembly/machine language programming

Kicking off a course in computer organization and Assembly/machine language programming

Making concepts and phenomena visual in machine and assembly language programming

Some courses in computer organization and assembly language programming have evolved away from ones emphasizing proficiency with a particular machine. Instead, these courses attempt to build understanding for the way in which abstract concepts are ultimately realized through machine level programming. The advent of small computers offers an opportunity to further personalize this form of instruction and to improve its delivery and availability. This paper discusses a package of software for use on personal computers which supports the teaching of courses in computer organization and assembly language programming. The software permits visualization of various abstractions, concepts, and phenomena. Examples of its use in teaching are examined, and related directions in teaching courses of this type are examined.

MicMac: a microprogram simulator for courses in computer organization

MicMac: a microprogram simulator for courses in computer organization

On the use of naming and binding in early courses

In most computer science curricula, the concepts of naming and binding are explicitly treated only in a small number of the later courses, such as operating systems and programming language foundations. However, these concepts are fundamental and underlie the whole of computer science. In this paper, a proposal is made to explicitly introduce these concepts in the second or third course so that they may be used in the analysis of ideas encountered throughout a student's program of study. The benefit of this earlier introduction is demonstrated by detailing how a computer organization course can explicitly incorporate these concepts. These concepts can also be used to advantage in other early courses, such as data structures.

Animations of computers as teaching aids

This paper discusses several programs which are used as teaching aids for teaching computer science students. The programs are animations of the internal workings of a central processing unit. They should be particularly useful in assembly language and computer organization courses or to give introductory students a more tangible example of what is going on inside the computer. The animation techniques use only the capabilities of common dumb conversational computer terminals and can easily be implemented on many different computer systems.

Computer-1—a modern simple computer to introduce computer organization and assembler language programming

COMPUTER-1 is an interactive editor/assembler simulator-debugger and program evaluator to be used as an instructional tool for an introductory course in computer organization and assembler language programming. COMPUTER-1's organization, assembler language and interactive facilities are designed to introduce basic concepts of computer architecture and assembly language programming while minimizing the amount of computer system dependent details present during this learning period. COMPUTER-1 is a decimal machine with a small modern single address instruction repertoire. A run-time view into COMPUTER-1's memory and registers is provided to help in program understanding and debugging. COMPUTER-1 provides a flexible instructor-oriented method for specifying and evaluating programming assignments and a way for students to determine whether and how well their programs have worked. COMPUTER-1 runs under UNIX and presumes the availability of a CRT with full-screen cursor addressability. COMPUTER-1 is a modern descendent of BASIC1 [1] in that it simulates a more contemporary architecture and possesses interactive features which are not tied to the capabilities of hard copy terminals or card readers.

BASICl—a simple computer to introduce computer organization and assembler language programming

BASICl is a simple interactive assembler-loader/interpreter which has been used as an instructional tool for the introductory course in computer organization and assembler language programming offered by the Computer Science Department at Washington State University. Both “hardware” and software are organized so as to emphasize basic concepts and to eliminate the confusion which occurs when these concepts are first introduced surrounded by the myriad of machine and assembler language-dependent details of an actual computer system. BASIC1 a decimal machine, has a small single address instruction repertoire with a trace, dump, reasonable diagnostics and run time interactive debugging capability. An associated simulator, called TESTER serves to evaluate whether and how well the students' programs have worked.

HARD - hardware simulation in education

Introduction to digital circuits and computer organization is usually a required course in computer science curricula. The subject is often taught as a textbook course although experience shows that students enormously benefit from simple laboratory experiments and enjoy them. Another form of contact with basic physical realities is via computer simulation of hardware. The use of simulation can not only replace experiments if necessary but also add insight into aspects of the function of hardware not easily observable in the lab, such as the effect of delays and noise and allow the study of phenomena that cannot be observed such as data transfer between registers hidden inside a component. Exposure to simulation also introduces students to one major application of computers - simulation - which is often some-what neglected in computer science curricula. Moreover, simulation is becoming an essential component of design and student's perspective of the design process is incomplete without some experience with it. Three main reasons why hardware simulation is not usually used in introductory hardware courses are the orientation of typical hardware simulation languages towards the professional designer and the resulting structure poorly suited for education, the scarcity of easily available, inexpensive, and portable languages, and the lack of coverage of the subject in most textbooks on hardware. A hardware simulation language called HARD developed at Acadia University is an attempt to remedy the above mentioned problems. It is designed specifically for education. It includes features typically required in a computer organization course, namely simulation at the gate and RTL levels, and simulation of delays and noise. The syntax is quite flexible in that there are practically no reserved words. The language is not based on any programming language so that no previous experience with computers is necessary. The structure of circuit descriptions is natural and English-like. The translator and simulator are interactive. The language allows modular descriptions and their connections into multi-level hierarchies as required by the problem. The system is very portable since it is written in Pascal with a minimal use of non-standard features. The language is not as complete as a professional design tool since its intended use is in education. It is, however, expected that new features will be added to it in the future in response to the feedback from the system's users.

An interactive simulator for the KIM-1 microcomputer

The KIM-1 simulator is a development tool for the MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor and the KIM-1 microcomputer. It is written in the C programming language and runs under the UNIX operating system on a DEC PDP-11/60. The input to the simulator is ob ject code produced by a cross-assembler. The simu lator helps in debugging 6502 programs by providing the user with the ability to interactively load and display memory and registers, dynamically set and clear breakpoints, handle interrupts, and trace pro gram execution. The simulator is user-oriented; it supplies prompts, English diagnostics, and instructions on usage. Its execution speed and core requirements allow truly interactive debugging. The KIM-1 simulator, in conjunction with the cross- assembler and the actual KIM-1 microcomputers, has been an excellent educational tool for an introduc tory course in computer organization and assembly- language programming. In addition, it has helped researchers using the 6502 microprocessor in appli cations.

A software tool for teaching Data Structures

Our Data Structures Course, first taught in 1973, was originally conceived as the keystone course of our computer science curriculum. Our curriculum's original design was influenced by Curriculum '68 and the undergraduate computer science program at Penn State University. However, we had to adapt our program to our small college environment and include a curriculum track with a business emphasis. We felt that regardless of which track in our program a student might follow, theory/systems or business/DP, there must be a strong nucleus common to both tracks. For this reason we concentrated on developing four strong courses that would be given as the freshman and sophomore year component of our curriculum. As part of this, we also saw the need for software tools to support these courses. From this, a structured programming preprocessor evolved. However, as part of this preprocessor we included timing and dynamic storage allocation features. Through a strong emphasis on structured programming that begins with our first computer science course, our second course introduces many discrete structure concepts-queues, stacks, trees, graphs, etc... Our third course is a course in assembler level programming and computer organization. These courses provide a strong foundation for our Data Structures course.

Computer architecture in U. S. and Canadian electrical engineering departments

This paper traces the history of computer architecture courses in U. S. electrical engineering departments. Data from the Fall 1972 survey of U. S. and Canadian electrical engineering departments by the COSINE Committee of the Commission on Education of the National Academy of Engineering are given to show current computer architecture course offerings and texts. Computer architecture courses offered in 1972-73 are analyzed, compared with ACM and COSINE recommendations, and classified into five categories: introductory computer engineering courses with a computer architecture flavor, software -oriented computer organization courses, hardware-oriented computer organization courses, case study courses, and topical seminars Future trends in computer architecture education are predicted.

Computer architecture courses in electrical engineering departments

This paper traces the history of computer architecture courses in electrical engineering departments. Previously unpublished data from the Fall 1972 COSINE survey are given to show current computer architecture course offerings and texts. Computer architecture courses offered in 1972-73 are analyzed, compared with ACM and COSINE recommendations, and classified into five categories: introductory computer engineering courses with a computer architecture flavor, software-oriented computer organization courses, hardware-oriented computer organization courses, case study courses, and topical seminars. Future trends in computer architecture education are predicted.