CS 210: Assembly Language and Systems Programming (Fall 2003)

Lecture: Tuesday-Thursday 1:15pm-3:00pm (235 Harney Science Center)

Instructor: Allan Cruse
Email: cruse@usfca.edu
Phone: (415) 422-6562
Office: 212 Harney Science Center
Office Hours: (see my homepage)

Teaching Assistant: Qing Huang
TA consulting hours: MW 2-3pm

This course introduces students to computer programming at the machine language level, as a means of exploring some basic concepts of microcomputer architecture, system software and peripheral hardware. It is comprised of lectures, readings, discussions, demonstrations, consultations, assigned design projects and scheduled exams.

The course will focus primarily on the assembly language for Intel Pentium processors running the Linux operating system and will use the GNU assembler and program development tools. Students are presumed to have prior experience with computer programming in at least one high-level language (such as C/C++/java), and to be familiar with basic operating system commands (e.g., as covered in CS 110/112).

Class meetings will be held in the Michael D. Kudlick computer classroom (Room 235, Harney Science Center) which affords convenient opportunities for combining formal instruction with "hands-on" programming exercises. This facility, a gift of USF alumnus Alfred S. Chuang ('82), was opened in Fall 2002.

Textbook (for collateral reading):

Learning Outcomes:

You will know the set of fundamental operations a computer can perform.
You will know how to build complex computations out of simple operations.
You will be able to "see through" code written in a high-level language.
You will gain the capability to fully utilize features in modern CPUs.
You will lay the conceptual ground for understanding later CS courses.
You will acquire a skill-set of practical value in professional practice.

Resources

The official GNU Assembler manual (GAS)
Brennan's Guide to Inline Assembly
The Linux Assembly HOWTO manual
Roger Jegerlehner's Intel Assembler 80x86 Code Table
Official IA-32 Programmer Reference Manuals online at http://developer.intel.com/design/pentium4/manuals/
Documentation for the Linux Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) files: elf.pdf

Handouts

0203-210-01: Course syllabus (.PDF)
lesson1.ppt (Powerpoint Slides)
Simple "high-level" programming example: demo1.c
Example rewritten in assembler language: demo2.s
lesson2.ppt (Powerpoint Slides)
Example program squares.s for inclass exercise
lesson3.ppt (Powerpoint Slides)
An "interactive" application: manydots.s (it illustrates "structured" programming)
lesson4.ppt (Powerpoint Slides)
Demo program: noecho.cpp (shows how to turn off echoing of terminal input)
lesson5.ppt (Powerpoint Slides)
Application: password.s to be modified for Project 2 (as repaired on 9/16/2003)
lesson6.ppt (Powerpoint Slides)
Demo: toupper.s illustrating a counted loop to do array-processing of ascii codes
lesson7.ppt (Powerpoint Slides)
Demo: ttyinfo.cpp shows key details about struct termios' objects under Linux
lesson8.ppt (Powerpoint Slides)
Demo program: nocbreak.s illustrates reprogramming of the normal terminal behavior
Demo program: factors.s showing use of the Pentium's MUL and DIV instructions
Prototype: xmas.cpp tests algorithm to find which day-of-the-week is Christmas
Prototype: knuth.cpp tests algorithm to find the date of Easter in a given year
Demo program: xmas.s an assembly language version of the 'xmas.cpp' prototype
Demo program: theframe.s showing the stack-frame upon entry to function 'main()'
Demo program: seestack.cpp (a program that displays a 'dump' of its own stack area)
Files: myplus.s and linkdemo.s (you can combine separately-assembled object-files)
Demo: link2asm.cpp" showing that you can do "mixed language" programming
Demo: greeting.s shows how direct system-calls can be made to the Linux kernel
Conversion-routines: asc2int.s and int2asc.s to be used with Project 4 and later applications
Demo program: mynumio.s for testing the preceeding pair of conversion-routines
Conversion-routine: gpacalc.s (can link to symbols from both .data and .code sections)
Demo program: testcalc.s is used to test visibility of external variables by 'gpacalc'
Demo routine: mul_bl.s shows how a multiplication can be performed with software
Test program: multest.cpp (verifies the correctness of our software multiply routine)
Demo routine: div_bl.s shows how a division can be performed with software
Test program: divtest.cpp (verifies the correctness of our software divide routine)
Demo routine: imul_bl.s does a signed-integer multiplication with software
Demo program: mywhoami.s shows use of some string-instructions (movsb, cmpsb, scasb)
Demo program: out2file.s shows how to directly invoke kernel system-calls to create a file
Test program: stkdump.s shows the stack area (for standalone programs that omit 'main')
Demo program: readdemo.s shows how to read a file into a dynamically allocated buffer <--- revised 04/14/2005
Demo program: tryfork.s illustrates use of the Linux 'fork' and 'waitpid' system-calls
Work-in-progress: mytracer.cpp (for developing our own debugging tool)
Demo program: tryled.s illustrating use of the x86 'in' and 'out' instructions
Demo program: trymmap.s illustrating use of the 'mmap' and 'munmap' system-calls
Demo program: fact.s shows a 'recursive' function written in assembly language
Demo program: traverse.cpp uses recursion to print a list of strings in reverse order
Demo program: showpi.s introduces use of the Pentium's floating-point instructions
Assembler floating-point function det.s is called from a C++ program: trydet.cpp
Demo program: add.s shows use of the 'aaa' instruction when adding unpacked-BCD numbers
Demo program: showid.s (one possible solution for Question V on the Final Exam)

Readings

Week 1: Chapter 1 in "Computer Systems" textbook
Week 2: First six sections in the GNU Assembler manual
Week 3: Chapter 2 in "Computer Systems" textbook
Week 4: Chapter 3 in "Computer Systems" textbook
Week 5: No new assignment (Review for Midterm Exam I)
Week 6: Chapter 4 in "Computer Systems" textbook
Week 7: Chapter 5 in "Computer Systems" textbook
Week 8: Review Chapter 2 in "Computer Systems" textbook
Week 9: Chapter 6 in "Computer Systems" textbook
Week 10: No new assignment (Review for Midterm Exam II)
Weeks 11-14: No new readings (Work on final project)
Week 15: No new readings (Review for Final Examination)

Announcements

Project 1: Due Noon Tuesday, 16 September 2003.
Project 2: Due Noon Friday, 26 September 2003.
Midterm Exam 1: Thursday, October 2
Project 3: Due Noon Tuesday, 14 October 2003.
Project 4: Due Noon Friday, 24 October 2003.
Midterm Exam 2: Thursday, November 6
Project 5: Due Noon Tuesday, 02 December 2003.
FINAL EXAMINATION: Friday, December 12, 3:30pm

Last updated on 04/14/2005