Department of Computer Science

Kulliyyah of Information & Communication Technology

International Islamic University Malaysia

COURSE OUTLINE
CSC 3402: Computer Architecture and Assembly Language

Kulliyyah Department
Kulliyyah of Department of Computer Science
Information and
Communication
Technology

Programme Bachelor of Computer Science

Course Title Computer Architecture and Assembly Language

Course Code CSC 3402

Status Core

Level 3

Credit Hours 3

Contact Hours 3

Pre-requisites CSC 1701 Mathematics for Computing

Teaching Methodology Direct Instruction

Presentation
Demonstration
Method of Evaluation Lab Exercises : 10%
Assignment(s) : 5%
Quizes : 10%
Mini Project : 15%
Mid Term Exam : 20%
 Final Exam : 40%
Total : 100%

Instructor(s) TBD

Semester Offered Semester 1 and 2

Course Synopsis This course introduces the basic architecture of computer systems
including fundamental concepts such as register structure, memory
organization of peripherals, and machine-level operations. These
concepts are integrated through the use of basic digital circuit, logic
gates, assemblers, linkers and loaders. Topics covered also include
instruction sets, symbolic addressing, bus organization, instruction
fetch and execution, read/write cycles, interrupt processing, I/O
processing ad general micro processor.

Course Objectives The main objectives of this course are:

1. To strengthen students’ understanding of computer architecture,

machine instructions and data representation concepts.
2. To introduce students to digital basics and digital circuits.
3. To present students with the architecture of microprocessors and
the use of operating system services for assembly language
programming.
4. To provide students with the experience of programming in a low
level language.
5. To expose students with system integration through techniques of
how a microprocessor interfaces with its memory and peripherals.

Learning Outcomes After completing this course, students are expected to be able to:
1. Analyze the principles of machine architecture including

Course Outlines

Weeks Topics Reference

1 The System Administrator Evi Nemeth, Garth

• What is a system administrator? Snyder and Hein,
 • Superuser aka root Trent R.
• System administration interfaces (Chapter One)

2 A Review of the Shell Evi Nemeth, Garth

Snyder and Hein,
• What is the shell? Trent R.
• How the shell interprets a command? (Chapter One)
• Metacharacters and the shell
• Filename expansion
• Variable manipulation
• Command substitution
• Input/output redirection
• Background processing
• Preventing metacharacter interpretation
• Executing commands in UNIX

3 Starting and Stopping in UNIX Evi Nemeth, Garth

• Boot process and inittab Snyder and Hein,
• init - task master Trent R.
• Descendents of init (Chapter Two)
• SAF - service access facility
• Shutting the system down
• Login Process
• Logging in

4 Controlling Processes Evi Nemeth, Garth

• Components of Processes Snyder and Hein,
• The life cycle of a process Trent R.
• Signals (Chapter Four)
• Process states
• Runway processes
5 Common Filesystem Directories Evi Nemeth, Garth
• Finding file locations Snyder and Hein,
• Common directories Trent R.
• Compatibility (Chapter Five)
• New directories
• Finding the otherwise unfindable
6 User Maintenance Evi Nemeth, Garth
• Adding a user, useradd Snyder and Hein,
• Changing user attributes Trent R.
• Adding a group (Chapter Six)
• Deactivating accounts

7 Special Devices Evi Nemeth, Garth

• Character devices Snyder and Hein,
• Connecting a terminal using the serial Trent R.
interface (Chapter Seven -
• Physical connection Eight)
• Terminal communication settings
• Working with terminal databases
• Block devices
• Pipes
• Where special devices are stored
• Major and minor device numbers
• Creating device files from scratch

8 Using at and Cron Evi Nemeth, Garth

• at- singular process queuing Snyder and Hein,
• What is cron? Trent R.
Using Backups and Restores (Chapter Nine -
• Backup strategies Ten)
• dump/restore
• Creating archives using cpio
• Backing up raw devices

9 Syslog and Log Files Evi Nemeth, Garth

• Logging policies Snyder and Hein,
• LINUX log files Trent R.
• Syslog (Chapter Eleven -
• Condensing log files to useful information Twelve)

Drivers and The Kernel

10 • Kernel Adaptation Evi Nemeth, Garth
 • Why configure the kernel Snyder and Hein,
• Configuration method Trent R.
• Tuning a Linux kernel (Chapter Eleven -
• Adding a device driver Twelve)
• Adding a Linux device driver
• Device files
• Loadable kernel modules
• Building a Linux kernel

11-12 TCP/IP Networking Evi Nemeth, Garth

• TCP/IP and the Internet Snyder and Hein,
• Packets and encapsulation Trent R.
• IP Addresses (Chapter Thirteen -
• Routing Fourteen)
• ARP
• Adding a machine to the network
• DHCP: The Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol
• Linux dynamic reconfiguration and tuning
• Security issues
• Linux NAT
• PPP: The Point-to-Point Protocol

Routing
13 - 14 Evi Nemeth, Garth
• Packet forwarding: a closer look
Snyder and Hein,
• Routing daemons and routing protocol Trent R.
• Protocols on parade (Chapter Thirteen -
• routed Fourteen)
• gated
• Routing strategy selection criteria
• Cisco router
Review

References Required :

Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder and Hein, Trent R., (2002), Linux
administration handbook, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Recommended :

Behrouz A. Forouzan and Gilberg, Richard F., (2003)Unix and

shell programming, United States: Brooks Cole.
 Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder and Hein, Trent R., (2000)Unix
system administration handbook, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Vicki Stanfield and Smith, Roderick W., (2001)Linux system

administration, United States: Sybex.

Proposed Start Date Semester 2, 2005/2006

Batch of Students to be All Batches

Affected