Calendar
Below is a preview of the week-by-week plan for the quarter. There may be adjustments and rearrangements as we go.
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In the readings listed below, B&O is Computer Systems (Bryant and O'Hallaron), K&R is The C Programming Language (Kernighan and Ritchie) accessible here (requires free Open Library account to borrow), and Essential C is a PDF available at http://cslibrary.stanford.edu/101. B&O scanned PDFs for the listed readings are available on Canvas under the "Files" tab.
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Lecture videos are posted on Canvas under the "Course Videos" tab.
- Live lecture sessions are 11:30AM-1PM, NVIDIA Auditorium.
Lecture Code
Any code examples worked in class will be posted after lecture into /afs/ir/class/cs107/lecture-code/lect[N] where you replace [N] with the lecture number. You can make a copy to compile or modify by doing the following, which will make a folder in the current location called lect[N] that is a copy of the lect[N] code.
cp -r /afs/ir/class/cs107/lecture-code/lect[N] lect[N]
You can also view lecture code from your web browser by clicking here.
| Topics | Readings | Assignments |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | ||
| Lecture 1 (Mon 1/9): Welcome to CS107! We'll go through course logistics, learning goals, and a tour of C programs. |
Lecture 1 Slides Lecture 1 Code Handouts: Syllabus, Honor Code B&O Ch 1 - skim this chapter for a quick overview of what is meant by systems, and for a preview of topics to come. |
Out: assign0 |
| No labs this week. | ||
| Lecture 2 (Fri 1/13): Integers and Bits Topic 1: How can a computer represent integer numbers? We'll learn more about the representation of the integer types: char, short, int, and long, in both unsigned and two's complement signed. We'll also discuss integer arithmetic, overflow, truncation and sign extension, and how mixed signed and unsigned comparison operations work. Finally, we'll dive further into bits and bytes and how to manipulate them using bitwise operators. |
Lecture 2 Slides Lecture 2 Code B&O Ch 2.2-2.3 - skim the formal proofs, but it's important to take away a solid working knowledge of two's complement and behaviors of integer operations. |
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| Week 2 | ||
| (Mon 1/17) No Lecture (Martin Luther King's Birthday) | In:assign0 Out:assign1 |
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Lab 1: Bits and ints |
Be sure to check out our guide to gdb. | |
| Lecture 3 (Fri 1/20): Chars and C-Strings Topic 2: How can a computer represent and manipulate more complex data like text? We'll explore how strings and characters are manipulated in C using the char and char * types, discuss null termination, and become familiar with the string.h functions. |
Lecture 3 Slides Lecture 3 Code K&R (1.9, 5.5, Appendix B3) or Essential C section 3 for C-strings and string.h library functions. C-strings are primitive compared to Java/C++ strings, so take note of the manual efforts required for correct use and pitfalls to avoid. |
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| Week 3 | ||
| Lecture 4 (Mon 1/23): Arrays and Pointers Topic 3: How can we effectively manage all types of memory in our programs? We'll answer questions like: how are arrays and pointers the same? How are they different? How is an array/pointer passed/returned in a function call? After this lecture, you'll understand how arrays and pointers allow two syntaxes for accessing sequential memory locations, but the underlying reality of the memory is the same. |
Lecture 4 Slides Lecture 4 Code K&R 5.2-5.5 or Essential C section 6 on advanced pointers |
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| Lab 2: C-Strings | Be sure to check out our guide to Valgrind. | In (Wed): assign1 Out: assign2 |
| Lecture 5 (Fri 1/26): Stack and Heap We'll learn about stack allocation, stack frames, and parameter passing. Then, we'll introduce dynamic allocation on the heap ( malloc/realloc/free), heap contractual guarantees and undefined behavior. |
Lecture 5 Slides Lecture 5 Code K&R 5.6-5.9 or Essential C section 6 on the heap. The key concept is comparing and contrasting stack and heap allocation. |
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| Week 4 | ||
Lecture 6 (Mon 1/30): void *, Generics Topic 4: How can we use our knowledge of memory and data representation to write code that works with any data type? We'll continue comparing and contrasting stack and heap allocation. Then, we'll move on to untyped void * pointers and motivate C generics. |
Lecture 6 Slides [Lecture 8 Code] still working through K&R 5.6-5.9 or Essential C section 6 on the heap. |
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| Lab 3: Arrays/Pointers | In (Thur): assign2 Out (Wed): assign3 |
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| Lecture 7 (Fri 2/3): More Generics We'll talk about function pointers, which allow us to implement generic operations using client callbacks. |
Lecture 7 Slides Lecture 7 Code K&R 5.11, review man pages or your C reference to be introduced to generic functions in the C library ( qsort, lfind, bsearch) |
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| Week 5 | ||
| Lecture 8 (Mon 2/6): Floating Point Numbers We'll talk about floating point numbers, which is the way the computer holds and calcuates with numbers that are not integers. |
Lecture 8 Slides Lecture 8 Code |
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Lab 4: void */Function Pointers |
In (Wed): assign3 Out: assign4 |
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| Lecture 9 (Fri 2/10): Intro to x86-64, Data Movement Topic 5: How does a computer interpret and execute C programs? We'll introduce assembly/machine language and find out what's happening underneath the hood of the C compiler, including a discussion of the x86-64 instruction set architecture and its powerful mov instruction. Then, we'll talk about addressing modes, data layout, and access to variables of various types. |
Lecture 9 Slides--> Lecture 9 Code B&O 3.1-3.3 for background info on x86-64 assembly. Very carefully read B&O 3.4 on addressing modes and data transfer. The multitude of addressing modes is one of the things that puts the first "C" in CISC. Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide. |
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| Week 6 | ||
| Lecture 10 (Mon 2/13): x86-64 ALU We'll talk about arithmetic and logical instructions. |
Lecture 10 Slides Lecture 10 Code B&O 3.5-3.6 Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide. |
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| Lab 5: Assembly x86-64 in all its glory |
Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide. | (Wednesday) Midterm Exam |
| Lecture 11 (Fri 2/17): x86-64 Condition Codes and Control Flow We'll see how to implement C if/else and loops in assembly and discuss other uses of condition codes (setx/cmov). |
Lecture 11 Slides Lecture 11 Code B&O 3.6 Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide. |
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| Week 7 | ||
| (Mon 2/20) - No Lecture (Presidents' Day) | ||
| Lab 6: Runtime Stack Fun explorations with the stack! |
In (Wed): assign4 Out (Wed): assign5 |
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| Lecture 12 (Fri 2/17): x86-64 Stack, recursion, arrays, structs We will finish up assembly by talking about some more advanced topics |
Lecture 12 Slides Lecture 12 Code B&O 3.6 Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide. |
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| Week 8 | ||
| Lecture 13 (Mon 2/27): Managing the Heap Topic 6: How do core memory-allocation operations like malloc and free work? We'll see how the heap fits into the address space. We'll introduce design decisions for implementing malloc/realloc/free, as well as performance tradeoffs (throughput, utilization). Then, we'll compare and contrast stack and heap allocation. |
Lecture 13 Slides--> B&O Ch. 9.9 and 9.11 cover heap allocation implementation and memory misuses. There's lots of very useful detail in 9.9 for your heap allocator! |
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| Lecture 14 (Fri 3/3): Managing the Heap 2 Topic 6: We'll review implicit heap allocators and dive deeper into explicit free list heap allocators. |
Lecture 14 Slides B&O Ch. 9.9 and 9.11 cover heap allocation implementation and memory misuses. There's lots of very useful detail in 9.9 for your heap allocator! |
In: assign5 Out: assign6 |
| No labs this week. | ||
| Week 9 | ||
| Lecture 15 (Mon 3/6): Optimization We'll take a look at the compilation process and the various optimizations gcc does on our behalf. We'll also learn of some tools we can use to profile our own code so we know where to optimize ourselves. This could be helpful for final tuning of your heap allocator! |
Lecture 15 Slides Lecture 15 Code Optimally skim B&O Ch. 5 |
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| Lab 7: Code and Memory Optimization Experiments in optimization and profiling |
Be sure to check out our CS107 guide to callgrind. | |
| Lecture 16 (Fri 3/10): Guest lecture by Jerry Chen: Memory Safety | Lecture 16 Slides | |
| Week 10 | ||
| Lecture 17 (Mon 3/13): Guest lecture by Christine Cheng and Jinang Shah: How do computer work? | Lecture 17 Slides | |
| No labs this week. | In: assign6 (Wed) | |
| Lecture 18 (Fri 3/17): Wrap-up and Q&A We'll wrap up the course themes, preview courses and opportunities post-107, and say some final words. Bring questions if you have them! |
Lecture 18 Slides CS107 Recap Page --> |
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| Week 10 | ||
| Finals Week | ||
| Final Exam: Friday March 24, 8:30am-11:30am |