Comp 220 - Computer Organization (Spring 2026)
Introductory Information
- Syllabus.
- Canvas site.
- Dive into Systems - online book for introductory explanations of some course content.
- MARS - MIPS Assembler and Runtime Simulator; IDE for running MIPS/SPIM. From our friends at Missouri State University.
- Compiler Explorer - see what your C++ code looks like in Assembly.
- Computer for sale!
- 2026 Dell Pro 16 laptop
- Image of laptop motherboard - with labels
- Image of another laptop motherboard - no labels
- Simpler parts of motherboard - with labels
- How transistors work - short YouTube video.
- Cosmic Rays Can Flip Bits! - video on how cosmic rays can impact ICs due to the latter's increasingly tiny size.
Fun Images (??)
Photos from the Arithmeum Museum in Bonn, Germany.
- 99.9999999% pure silicon crystal
- Silicon wafers, and self portrait
- Chips on a wafer
- This IS your father's memory (magnetic core memory; 10000 bit capacity)
- So easy, a monkey can do it! (check out the text from the original instructions in upper left)
- As exciting as it gets for a mathematician
And more from the London Science Museum.
Crazy Model Expo through the years...
- Rube Goldberg? - no, it's a portion of the CPU!
- Katie and Sam showing a binary counter.
- Eammon's slightly more sophisticated binary counter.
- Jon and Lex excited about their contraption.
- Jeffrey explaining his flip-flop poster.
- Sayed and Anton showing a ripple adder.
- Ethan explaining how a computer is like an octopus (?).
- Colin and his LEGO computer.
Examples/Handouts
- Measurements and Units
- Chapter 1 problems
- Eight Great Ideas in Computer Architecture.
- Figure 1.16 (pdf) - clock rate and power over time to 2018 (from text).
- Figure 1.17 (pdf) - processor performance over time to 2018 (from text).
- 42 Year Trend - processor performance over time to 2017.
- Current CPU performance - processor performance on benchmarks. Be careful at what you're looking at!
- CPU clock rates and core counts over time.
- SPIM Quick Reference
- example1.s - simplest little assembly program.
- handout2.s - some basic math in assembly.
Lab Info
- lab1start.cpp - starting point for Lab 1.
- randomNums4M - download this file - don't try to look at it (it will take forever to load)!
- fileAverage.cpp - example of how to read (and write) a file.