Course schedule and contents
Tietokoneen toiminta (4 op, 2 ov), Syksy 2005
Computer Organization I (4 cr, 2 sw), Autumn 2005
This page will be updated whenever necessary, i.e. fairly often. Check back at least once a week during the course. The contents of the course may change a little, even at a late stage. There is plenty of new course material and I am quite sure that there are still some mistakes or inconsistencies remaining there. I appreaciate all feedback concerning the course material. Thank you. 
The structure of the course is completely new, and it might be adjusted during the course. Especially the use of new learning methods is still at a trial stage, so they can be tweaked as the course progresses. Hopefully, this will not be necessary, though.
Please note, that the 1st group meeting is on the 1st week of lectures (week 44), starting 1.11.2005. Study circles are formed in that meeting. Thre is tentatively an English speaking study circle group meeting on Thursdays 14-16 (C221). Please be there at that 1st study circle group meeting 1-3.11.2005.
There is a new version of Titokone available. Hopefully the new version can handle DS-pseudoinstructions as specified. You can find it in References in aikataulu.html.
Notice 1: All students must have an account for the Computer Science Department's Linux and Windows systems.
Minoring students must first get a UNIX account, or cc account, from the IT Department. A micro-computer account will not do. You can apply for a UNIX account from your own major subject department. After that, you can apply for a CS Dept. account by a freely formulated e-mail to tktl-luvat (AT) cs.helsinki.fi. Please give your cc account name in this e-mail. (See instructions at http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/compfac/ohjeet/Luvat/uusi.html#sivuainelupa). The account is usually activated the day after processing the application.
Notice 2: In order to be recognized in the course bookkeeping, all students must have registered for this course through the ILMO system at the department. If you have not registered yet, please do so now. Thank you.
Notice 3: Students must have a CSMoodle account to be able to work in a study circle. If you do not have one yet, please do it now (by opening CSMoodle, selecting English language and clicking on the "Login" button on top right). Thank you. Do not forget to ask your instructor to enter you in your own study circle in CSMoodle.
Currently most of the material for Autumn 2005 Computer Organization I course is only in Finnish. Better English guidance will be given later on. However, course contents and weekly schedule below is already in English.
The course structure is new with study circles and web lectures (most of them only in Finnish, sorry). However, foreign students (or other students not fluent in Finnish) can participate in the course with English speaking study circles, if there are enough (3 or more students) English speaking students for one or more study circle. The students in one study circle study together, work together, and do 3-4 larger team projects for the course together. All English speaking study circles will have one common mandatory weekly meeting time. Instead of the Finnish web-lectures, you need to study the material from the text book [Stal06]. (Of course, some Finnish students might also like the text book better than the web lectures.) The text book covers most of the material, but not assembly language programming for the locally developed ttk-91 computer architecture design. This means that the first 2 weeks will be a little rough, but you will get extra guidance. Also, there is an English Manual and user interface for the ttk-91 simulator Titokone. Please note also that there will be weekly 2 hr guidance lessons (Thu 12-14) for general questions and answers on any topic, also in English.
If you are interested in participating to this course in English, please email me (Teemu.Kerola AT cs.helsinki.fi) about it as soon as possible. I will then discuss with all such participants and agree on a common study circle meeting time. The weekly meeting time for the English speaking study circle is yet to be determined. I have not reserved any classroom for it yet. However, possible English speaking study circle meeting time could be Thursday 14-16 (Teemu Kerola). Please send me email, if this time is not good for you.
Study circles will start their work on the week of Nov 1st, and the meeting time for the English speaking study circle must be agreed upon before that! Study circles will give you peer support for the duration of the course. However, they are effective only if you are committed to completing the course. So, please sign up only if you are serious about it. So far (14.10.2005), I have not received any email sign-ups requesting English speaking study circles.
-teemu kerola
Goals
The main goal of the course is to understand the focal features of a computer system from the aspect of the executable program; how is the computer system organized and how does it execute a program? The focus is on running one program at the machine-language level.
The goal is to understand how the processor works at the machine-language level. We will consider how the processor works at the machine-language level from both a general viewpoint and in practice, with the help of a simple sample machine (ttk-91) that has been developed for teaching purposes. The sample machine has been implemented as a simulator and it will be programmed with a (symbolic) machine language.
The goal is to understand the role of the operating system in executing a program.
This goal is described in more detail in the course description.Study Circle Course and Web Course
The course will be realised through study circles. This means that, instead of so-called normal exercise sessions, the students are divided into smaller teams (study circles) where they complete normal exercises as well as larger projects together. The idea behind study circles is that people learn better when they learn together. When students explain things to each other, they learn themselves and/or discover gaps in their own knowledge. Study circles have one compulsory meeting every week with their instructors, and they can meet at other times if they want to. There will be more advice available in the newsgroups, chat rooms and one-on-one web discussions on Moodle.
This course is a web course. This means that it includes the use a considerable amount of online material, and the systematic use of online communication inside the course. To name an example, most of the lectures at this course are covered by self-access online lectures, and revision exercises that are suitable for self-evaluation are attached to each lecture. The exercises will help students form an idea of how they have mastered the material. The course also includes discussion assignments, which will be held in the Moodle newsgroups.
Though this is an web course, it cannot be completed purely as a distance course. Most of the learning process should happen during individual work and teamwork, but it is still necessary to be present at campus at some points in the course.
The course work is carried out in study circles. Some ordinary lectures are included: the initial lecture, the final lecture, and the special, optional lectures held during the course. Most of the course material is presented as online lectures, adapted for self-access. The education is designed to happen through online lectures, study circle work, solving exercises, discussions and completing projects.
The course includes an extra study circle project that reflects (what was done, discovered, experienced) the course exam and the whole of the course. If a study circle does not want to complete this project, students may do it individually or as teamwork with some members of the study circle. It is possible to get a good grade for this course even without completing this project. On the other hand, reflecting over the issues that have been presented is recognized as a good way to learn.
Course Structure and Material for the Course
- Lectures (PowerPoint presentation online)
- initial lecture (lecture 0)
- remedial lectures
- week (2h) on any subject connected with the course
- issues that are hard to learn
- the use of Moodle or the Titokone simulator
- study circles, using discussion groups
- positive, negative feedback, etc etc.
- week (2h) on any subject connected with the course
- final lecture (lecture 12)
- Group sessions
- compulsory weekly meeting of study circle
- examining exercises (when necessary)
- project presentations
- Online material (Internet, intranet)
- schedule page (this page)
- the course material is linked from this page
- study circle work description
- ordinary lectures (PowerPoint presentation online)
- initial lecture (lecture 0) + final lecture (lecture 12)
- web lectures in Finnish: lu01 lu02 lu03 lu04 lu05 lu06 lu07 lu08 lu09 lu10 lu11 (lu10 proto)
- web lectures in English: lu01e lu02e
- practice problems for each online lecture
- study circle exercises the solutions will be discussed at group meetings if necessary) )
- study circle discussion problems (the discussions will be held in the study-circle-specific newsgroup in CSMoodle)
- study circle projects (the report will be saved as one file that is sent in through CSMoodle and handed in as a hardcopy)
- schedule page (this page)
- CSMoodle material for this course
- all the course material is linked from this page
- discussion groups, general and study-circle-specific
- chat rooms, general and study-circle-specific
- study circle project delivery
- Course examination
- exam is one learning method
- in addition to normal exam feedback one can reflect the course exam in the voluntary 4th study circle project
- Online guidance from the instructor
- open questions will be answered on the newsgroup now and then
- unless peer students haven't done it already
- instructors will have altogether some 4 hours / week for this guidance
- open questions will be answered on the newsgroup now and then
Textbook and simulation environment for machine-language programming
I recommend that you buy Stallings' book ([Stal06] or [Stal03]) as a remedial text, though it is not absolutely necessary. It is hardly worth it to buy Tanenbaum's book ([Tane06] or [Tane99]) just for this course.
- [Stal06], chapters 1-2, 3-3.1, 4.1, 5-5.2, 6-6.1, 7-7.5, 8-8.2, 9-9.2, 10
- [Tane06], chapters 4.2, 7.3-7.4
- The machine language simulator TITOKONE for the sample computer ttk-91.
- A general overview of the ttk-91 computer and its organization: online lectures lu02, lu03 and lu04 [Häkk98]
General Information
- Please see the course homepage http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/teemu.kerola/tito/index.html for general matters in connection with the course (i.e. other than matters specifically related to this online course)
- If you want a fast response from the lecturer (e.g. the webpage does not open etc), please use e-mail. Matters concerning all students in this course will be published on this page and/or in the general newsgroup on CSMoodle.
Instruction Schedule
The instruction schedule contains the times when the person in charge of the course or the instructor will be present in person.
| Lectures initial lecture remedial lectures final lecture |
1.11.2005 |
Tue 12-14 (B123) | Teemu Kerola (some in English) |
| 3.11.2005 - 1.12.2005 |
Thu 12-14 (B123) | Teemu Kerola (also in English) |
|
| 8.12.2005 | Thu 12-14 (B123) | Teemu Kerola | |
Group meetings |
1.11.-9.12.2005 |
Tue 14-16 (C221) | Jari Suominen |
| Wed 14-16 (CK107) | Kimmo Simola | ||
| Thu 10-12 (CK111) | Jari Suominen | ||
| Thu 14-16 (CK107) | Kimmo Simola | ||
| Thu 14-16 (C221) in English |
Teemu Kerola | ||
| Online guidance | 1.11-9.12.2005 |
CSMoodle Common Discussion Forum |
Jari Suominen Kimmo Simola |
| Exam | 13.12.2005 | Tue 9-12 |
Evaluation
The want to achieve an evaluation where (a) study circle is rewarded for completing the unit, (b) those working much more in study circle will get better grade ja (c) those working much less will see it in their grade.
Most of the grade is based on the exam.
There are more than 60 p available, and 30 p are needed to pass. Normal grade levels are: 1 (30 p), 2 (35 p), 3 (40 p), 4 (45 p) ja 5 (50 p). These can be changed if needed.
Grading is composed on the following components:
- Study circle exercises and discussion assignments: 12 p
- Study circle projects: 24 p (32 p, if the extra 4th project is included)
- Course exam max 30 p, minimum requirement 15 p
Please see the page on study circles for more details on the grading of study circles.
Web Lectures
Only the first 2 web lecture will be in English. Sorry.
To follow an online lecture, you need a plug-in (Macromedia Authorware Web Player) for your browser. It is a standard feature in the department's Windows computers for students. (You cannot install it yourself on the department's computers; neither can you install any other browser plug-ins.) This plug-in only exists for the Windows environment and it works best in the Internet Explorer. Sorry. You can test the plug-in here. The system gives certain relevant warnings when starting the plug-in, but as far as I can see, it is safe to use.
On Computer Science Department computers, students can also follow the online lecture from a Linux environment through the Windows 2003 Terminal Server. The server enables the use of Windows environment and programs, even from Linux computers. You can access the server from department Linux computers simply with the command “windows”. This opens a login box to the Windows system. Login with your usual CS Department username and password. The Authorware plug-in is already installed into the IE on this server. If you want more control over remote access software, you can use the rdesktop (http://www.rdesktop.org) program with the command "/usr/local/bin/rdesktop winserver".
If you have any problems with the Authorware Web Player plug-in, please report them to the person in charge of the course.
There is a User's Manual and a FAQ for the use of the online lectures. They are available on the web and accessible from the online lectures, as well.Study Circles
There are more detailed guidelines for study circles on a separate page.
The small assignments are similar to traditional exercises. Everyone completes them individually, discussing them with the study circle when necessary. If needs be, the study circle will present them when the groups meet. Points are given for completed exercises to those present.
The more extensive assignments are larger projects, on which reports are written. For these, points are given on the basis of the quality of the work and participation in the teamwork. Each study circle evaluates the degree of its members' involvement.
Contents and schedule
The rest of the schedule page information (exact schedule and references) will be only on the Finnish Schedule Page.