15-213/18-213/15-213: Introduction to Computer Systems (ICS)

Summer 2015

Lecture 1: TWR 12:00-13:20, DH A302, Nathaniel "nwf" Filardo

12 units

The ICS course provides a programmer's view of how computer systems execute programs, store information, and communicate. It enables students to become more effective programmers, especially in dealing with issues of performance, portability and robustness. It also serves as a foundation for courses on compilers, networks, operating systems, and computer architecture, where a deeper understanding of systems-level issues is required. Topics covered include: machine-level code and its generation by optimizing compilers, performance evaluation and optimization, computer arithmetic, memory organization and management, networking technology and protocols, and supporting concurrent computation.

Course Syllabus (includes rules on cheating, late assignments, etc)

Prerequisites: 15-122

What's New?

Tue, May 14: The slides for the C boot camp can be found here (pdf) and here (pptx). The code and C puzzles can be found here

Tue, May 14: Office hours and classes begin on Tuesday, May 19th.

Tue, May 14: Please don't contact the instructors with waitlist questions. The following two people can help you with all of your wait list questions:

15-213: Catherine Fichtner (cathyf@cs.cmu.edu)
18-213: Chelsea Mastilak (cmastila@andrew.cmu.edu)

Getting Help

Email	15-213-staff@cs.cmu.edu
Instructor Office Hours	Tue, Wed, Thu: 15:30 (3:30pm) - 17:00 (5:00 pm); GHC 5202
TA Office Hours	Daily (including weekends!) 5:30pm - 8:00pm in GHC 5202.

Course Materials

Schedule	Lecture schedule, slides, recitation notes, readings, and code
Assignments	Details of assignments, due dates, and policies
Exams	Information about quizzes, exams, and final
Lab Machines	Instructions for using the lab machines
Resources	Additional course resources

Course Information

For details	See the course syllabus for details (below is just a few overview bits).
Lectures	TWR 12:00-1:20pm DH A302
Recitations	Friday 12:00-1:30pm, GHC 4211.
Textbooks	Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron, Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, Second Edition, Prentice Hall, 2011
	Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie, The C Programming Language, Second Edition, Prentice Hall, 1988
Credit	12 units
Grading	Composed from total lab performance (50%) and total exam performance (50%).
Labs	There are 7 labs, not evenly weighted. See the assignments page for the breakdown.
Exams	There is one midterm exam, online, proctored, closed book (20%). There is a final exam, online, proctored, closed book (30%).
Home	http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~213
Questions	Email to 15-213-staff@cs.cmu.edu. Visit office hours (see above)
Blackboard	We are not using Blackboard for this course.
Piazza	We are not using Piazza for this course.
Course Directory	/afs/cs/academic/class/15213-m15/

Instructors

Name	Nathaniel Filardo
Contact	nwf@andrew.cmu.edu
Office	TBA (For the moment, GHC 5202)
Office Hours	TWR 15:30-17:00 (or by appt)

Course Assistant

There are many TAs for the course this summer, to whom we are forever grateful.

Name	Email	TA Office Hour Days	Info
Thomas "TJ" O'Connor	tjo@andrew		Senior CS major who enjoys lifting and camping
Shelton Dsouza	sdsouza@andrew	Thursday, Saturday	ECE first year Masters student who enjoys reading novels and playing football.
Dhruven Shah	dhruvens@andrew	Thursday, Saturday	ECE first year Masters student who enjoys sports, travelling, and music.
Monil Shah	monilsha@andrew	Wednesday, Friday	ECE Masters student (class of 2016) and fitness enthusiast who enjoys music, biking, and outdoor sports.
Tarun Karuturi-Venkata-Raghava	tkarutur@andrew	Wednesday, Friday	ECE Masters student (class of 2016)
Dipayan Bhattacharya	dipayan@cmu	Monday, Tuesday	ECE Masters student (class of 2015) who enjoys computer gaming
Richard Ha	rkh@andrew	Monday, Tuesday
Shen Chen Xu	shenchex@andrew	Sunday	PhD 3rd year
Vishvesh Mohanarangam Selvakumaar	vmohanar@alumni		Recent ECE graduate; 213 TA for the past 3 semesters