601.229 (F23): Syllabus
Computer Science EN.601.229
Computer Systems Fundamentals
Fall, 2023 (3 credits, E)

Please note that this syllabus could be updated during the semester. Any updates will be mentioned in class and on Courselore.

Instructor

David Hovemeyer daveho@cs.jhu.edu

Office: Malone 240A

Office hours: T/Th 1–3 pm, via Zoom (see Courselore for link)

Course Assistants

Head CAs:

CAs:

Meeting

Class meetings are in-person:

Section 01: MWF 9:00–9:50 am, Hodson 311

Section 02: MWF 10:00–10:50 am, Hodson 210

Textbook

Recommended: Bryant and O’Halloran, Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective, 3rd ed.

Optional: Computer Organization and Design (MIPS edition)

Online Resources

Lecture notes, assignments, and public information about the course will be posted on the course website, https://jhucsf.github.io/fall2023. You should check the course website frequently.

Courselore (announcements, discussion): https://courselore.org/

Gradescope (assignment/exam submission and grading): https://www.gradescope.com/

Videos will be posted on Canvas: go to http://my.jhu.edu, log in, choose Education → Canvas, choose EN.601.229.01.FA23 from courses, then choose Panopto Video

Course Information

Course Goals

By the end of the course you will

  1. Understand machine data types and arithmetic
  2. Be able to understand and write assembly language programs
  3. Understand machine-level memory organization
  4. Understand some types of machine-level security vulnerabilities and how to avoid introducing them
  5. Understand memory hierarchies
  6. Understand architectural features of modern processors, and how to optimize code for efficient execution
  7. Understand how linkers enable the creation of executables from separately-compiled modules
  8. Understand dynamic linking and run-time loading of shared objects
  9. Understand process address space layout
  10. Understand virtual memory translation hardware and how it is used for memory isolation and sharing
  11. Understand basic principles of computer networking
  12. Use networking APIs such as sockets to implement network applications
  13. Use concurrency using abstractions such as threads

This course will address the following Criterion 3 Student Outcomes:

Graduates of the program will have an ability to:

2) Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the programs discipline.

Course Topics

Course Expectations & Grading

Class meetings will consist of lecture and discussion, interspersed with in-class activities.

Your course grade will be determined as follows:

You have a total of 120 late hours to use as needed for homework assignments throughout the course. Each 60 minute period following an assignment deadline is considered to be one late hour: for example, if an assignment is due at 11pm on Friday, but you submit your assignment at 11:30pm on Friday, you have used one late hour. If you are planning on using more than 48 late hours on an assignment, please send a private message to the instructors on Courselore to let us know. Assignment submissions which exceed the maximum number of late hours will (generally) not be considered for credit. Having said that, we understand that exceptional circumstances can arise. If you are in a situation where you think you may need additional late hours, please notify your instructor.

You are expected to attend class in person. The participation credit is earned by participating in peer instruction quizzes during class. You will need an iClicker remote to participate in these quizzes.

Key Dates

The Schedule lists exam dates.

The Assignments page lists assignments and their due dates.

Assignments & Readings

The Schedule lists the topics and readings for each day.

The course’s Canvas site (under Panopto Video) hosts the lecture videos.

Ethics

The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful, abiding by the Computer Science Academic Integrity Policy:

Cheating is wrong. Cheating hurts our community by undermining academic integrity, creating mistrust, and fostering unfair competition. The university will punish cheaters with failure on an assignment, failure in a course, permanent transcript notation, suspension, and/or expulsion. Offenses may be reported to medical, law or other professional or graduate schools when a cheater applies.

Violations can include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments without permission, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying, facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition. Ignorance of these rules is not an excuse.

Academic honesty is required in all work you submit to be graded. Except where the instructor specifies group work, you must solve all homework and programming assignments without the help of others. For example, you must not look at anyone else’s solutions (including program code) to your homework problems. However, you may discuss assignment specifications (not solutions) with others to be sure you understand what is required by the assignment.

If your instructor permits using fragments of source code from outside sources, such as your textbook or on-line resources, you must properly cite the source. Not citing it constitutes plagiarism. Similarly, your group projects must list everyone who participated.

Falsifying program output or results is prohibited.

Your instructor is free to override parts of this policy for particular assignments. To protect yourself: (1) Ask the instructor if you are not sure what is permissible. (2) Seek help from the instructor, TA or CAs, as you are always encouraged to do, rather than from other students. (3) Cite any questionable sources of help you may have received.

On every exam, you will sign the following pledge: “I agree to complete this exam without unauthorized assistance from any person, materials or device. [Signed and dated]”. Your course instructors will let you know where to find copies of old exams, if they are available.

Report any violations you witness to the instructor. You can also contact:

You can find more information about university misconduct policies on the web at these sites:

Personal Wellbeing

Classroom Climate

I am committed to creating a classroom environment that values the diversity of experiences and perspectives that all students bring. Everyone here has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. I believe fostering an inclusive climate is important because research and my experience show that students who interact with peers who are different from themselves learn new things and experience tangible educational outcomes. Please join me in creating a welcoming and vibrant classroom climate. Note that you should expect to be challenged intellectually by me, the TAs, and your peers, and at times this may feel uncomfortable. Indeed, it can be helpful to be pushed sometimes in order to learn and grow. But at no time in this learning process should someone be singled out or treated unequally on the basis of any seen or unseen part of their identity. If you ever have concerns in this course about harassment, discrimination, or any unequal treatment, or if you seek accommodations or resources, I invite you to share directly with me or the TAs. I promise that we will take your communication seriously and seek mutually acceptable resolutions and accommodations. Reporting will never impact your course grade. You may also share concerns with the department chair (Randal Burns, randal@cs.jhu.edu), the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Joanne Selinski, joanne@cs.jhu.edu), the WSE Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion (Darlene Saporu, dsaporu@jhu.edu), the KSAS Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion (Araceli Frias, afrias3@jhu.edu) or the Office of Institutional Equity (oie@jhu.edu). In handling reports, people will protect your privacy as much as possible, but faculty and staff are required to officially report information for some cases (e.g., sexual harassment).

Family Accommodations Policy

You are welcome to bring a family member to class on occasional days when your responsibilities require it (for example, if emergency child care is unavailable, or for health needs of a relative).  In fact, you may see my children in class on days when their school is closed.  Please be sensitive to the classroom environment, and if your family member becomes uncomfortably disruptive, you may leave the classroom and return as needed. 

Policy on Incomplete Grades:

The full policy is available here:   https://e-catalogue.jhu.edu/engineering/full-time-residential-programs/undergraduate-policies/academic-policies/grading-policies/

The following text is an excerpt:   

  1. A request for an Incomplete grade must be initiated by the student no later than the last day of classes via the Incomplete Grade Contract available in SIS
  2. The required elements on the Incomplete Grade Contract are listed below; all of these topics should be included in the conversation between the student and the instructor.
    • The reason for the request for an incomplete grade
    • A description of all outstanding work that must be completed
    • Date the work is due from the student
    • The reversion grade if the student does not complete any of the outstanding work
  3. Instructors are required to submit the new grade to the Office of the Homewood Registrar no later than 45 calendar days after the last day of classes. If the Incomplete grade is not resolved within 45 calendar days after the last day of classes, the Incomplete grade is automatically converted to the reversion grade.

The significant component of this policy is that there is an Incomplete Grade Contract available to students in SIS to request an incomplete grade. This is how all incomplete grades must be initiated. Another significant component is the timeline for completion of an incomplete grade for undergraduate students, which is 45 calendar days after the last day of classes. For graduate students, the deadline is the end of the third week of classes of the following semester. See the full catalogue entry for considerations for students on academic probation and graduating students.

Deadlines for Adding, Dropping and Withdrawing from Courses

https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/registrar/students/registration/

Full-semester classes:

Students may add a course up to noon on September 8, 2023 (customized academic learning, formerly called independent academic work, such as research may be added until October 8, 2023). They may drop courses up until October 8, 2023 provided they remain registered for a minimum of 12 credits. Between October 9, 2023 and November 10, 2023, a student may withdraw from a course with a W on their academic record. A record of the course will remain on the academic record with a W appearing in the grade column to indicate that the student registered and then withdrew from the course.

Term I classes:

Students may add a course up to September 8, 2023. They may drop courses until September 17, 2023 provided they remain registered for a minimum of 12 credits. Between September 18, 2023 and September 29, 2023, a student may withdraw from a course with a W on their academic record. A record of the course will remain on the academic record with a W appearing in the grade column to indicate that the student registered and then withdrew from the course.

Term II classes:

Students may add a course up to November 3, 2023. They may drop courses up until November 12, 2023 provided they remain registered for a minimum of 12 credits. Between November 13, 2023 and December 1, 2023, a student may withdraw from a course with a W on their academic record. A record of the course will remain on the academic record with a W appearing in the grade column to indicate that the student registered and then withdrew from the course.

Please see the Registrar’s website for relevant deadlines for HEART/HEROIC and SOUL courses.

For more information on these and other academic policies, see https://e-catalogue.jhu.edu/engineering/full-time-residential-programs/undergraduate-policies/academic-policies/grading-policies/