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.

• PDP8 minicomputer

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

Chapter 1 resources

• 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

MIPS examples

• example1.s - simplest little assembly program.
• handout2.s - some basic math in assembly.
• example2.s - same as the previous, but with comments.
• handout2messy.s - same as above, but with no spacing.
• example3.s - arrays in SPIM (What? Already??).
• List of pseudoinstructions and alternatives.
• example4.s - branches/jumps, version 1.
• example5.s - branches/jumps, version 2.
• example6.s - using branch as a loop.
• example7.s - branching with inequality.

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 in C++.

Projects/Homeworks

• Homework 1.
• Homework 1 solutions.
• MIPS1 - due February 21. Yes, this is a Saturday, but you can submit it earlier.