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Introduction to CS255 - Computer Architecture and Assembler Programming I

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• Online resources for the class taught by Prof. Cheung
  • Instructor's webpage: Click here

  • Text book:

    No text book used. The course material are online at: http://www.cs.emory.edu/~cheung/Courses/255/Syllabus/syl.html

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• Pre-requisite for CS255:

  Knowledge of a procedural programming language (e.g.: Java, C, etc) You know how to define a simple variable and structured variables (arrays, linked lists) You know how to use these variables You know what an assignment statement is and what it does You know what an if-statement is and what it does You know what an while-statement is and what it does You know what an for-statement is and what it does You know how to define a method and how to use it (= passing parameters and get return value) You know what a recursive method (function) Etc. Knowledge of 2 simple data structures: How to define an array and how to use the array elements How to define a linked list and how to insert/delete/find elements in the linked list

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• Goal of CS255
  • CS255 serves 2 purposes in the CS curriculum:

    Teach the C programming language to prepare you for CS350 - Systems Programming Provide a fundamental understanding of computer architecture and machine level programming (a.k.a. assembler language programming

  • Why study assembler programming ?

    As a computer science major, you must understand what is going on when the computer executes a computer program.

    The following concepts can only be explained using machine level programming:

    What happens inside the computer when you define variables How is an array variable stored/organized inside the computer memory How statements in Java access the variables in memory What happens inside the computer when an assignment statement is executed What happens inside the computer when an if-statement is executed What happens inside the computer when an while-statement is executed What happens inside the computer when an for-statement is executed How the computer executes a method call What happens inside the computer when a method passes parameters and returns a value What happens inside the computer when a parameter is passed by value and passed by reference What happens inside the computer when a function/method is recursive How to store an array - and how to access the array elements How to store an linked list - and what happens inside the computer when you insert/delete/access the linked list elements

    What will you gain/learn by taking CS255:

    You will completely understand the internal operations of any computer programming language and language construct You will also know the capabilities and limitations of a computer and computer programs