CS107 Calendar

Calendar

Below is a preview of the week-by-week plan for the quarter. There may be adjustments and rearrangements as we go.

Last updated: February 06, 2026.

Lecture videos are posted on Canvas under the "Panopto Course Videos" tab for enrolled students.
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.

Lecture Code

Any code examples worked in class will be posted 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]

Topics	Resources	Assignments
Week 1
Lecture 1 (Mon 1/5): Welcome to CS107! We'll go through course logistics, learning goals, and a tour of Unix and the command line.	Lecture Video 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.
Lecture 2 (Wed 1/7): Unix and C We'll get started with the command line and introduce the C programming language.	Lecture Video	Out: assign0
No labs this week.
Lecture 3 (Fri 1/9): Integers, Bits and Bytes Topic 1: How can a computer represent integer numbers? We'll learn about the representation of the integer types: `char`, `short`, `int`, and `long`, in both unsigned and two's complement signed. We'll discuss binary, hexadecimal, integer arithmetic and overflow.	Lecture Video 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.
Week 2
Lecture 4 (Mon 1/12): Bitwise Operators We'll wrap up integer representations by discussing truncation, sign extension and how mixed signed and unsigned comparison operations work. Then we'll see how to manipulate bits and bytes using bitwise operators.	Lecture Video B&O Ch 2.1
Lecture 5 (Wed 1/14): Bitwise Operators, Take II We'll learn about the `<< >>` shift operators and how to use GDB to examine the execution of our programs.	Lecture Video	In: assign0 Out: assign1
Lab 1: Bits and `int`s Be sure to check out our guide to gdb.
Lecture 6 (Fri 1/16): 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 Video 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.
Week 3
Mon 1/19 - No Lecture - Observing Martin Luther King Day
Lecture 7 (Wed 1/21): C-Strings, Buffer Overflows and Security We'll learn more about string library functions, and discuss buffer overflows and techniques to avoid them.	Lecture Video	In: assign1 (Thu) Out: assign2 (Thu)
Lab 2: C-Strings Be sure to check out our guide to Valgrind.
Lecture 8 (Fri 1/23): Introduction to Pointers We'll spend some time with C arrays and reintroduce the pointer.	Lecture Video K&R Ch 1.6, 5.5 or Essential C section 3 on the mechanics of pointers and arrays. Pay special attention to the relationship between arrays and pointers and how pointers/arrays are passed as parameters.
Week 4
Lecture 9 (Mon 1/26): Pointers and Arrays Topic 3: How can we effectively manage all types of memory in our programs? We'll answer questions like: how are pointers useful in programs? 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 Video K&R 5.2-5.5 or Essential C section 6 on advanced pointers
Lecture 10 (Wed 1/28): Stack and Heap We'll introduce dynamic allocation on the heap with `malloc`, compare the stack and the heap, and get practice using dynamic allocation.	Lecture Video 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.	In: assign2 (Thu) Out: assign3 (Thu)
Lab 3: Arrays/Pointers
*Lecture 11 (Fri 1/30): Generics and `void ` Topic 4:** How can we use our knowledge of memory and data representation to write code that works with any data type? We'll introduce untyped `void *` pointers and motivate C generics. We'll also discuss vulnerability disclosure, use-after-free bugs and partiality.	Lecture Video
Week 5
*Lecture 12 (Mon 2/2): Generics, `void `, and Function Pointers** We'll continue discussing generics and introduce function pointers, which allow us to pass functions as parameters and store them in variables.	Lecture Video
Lecture 13 (Wed 2/4): Function Pointers, Continued We'll continue discussing generic function pointers and do examples of how to write and call functions with function parameters.	Lecture Video K&R 5.11, review man pages or your C reference to be introduced to generic functions in the C library (`qsort`, `lfind`, `bsearch`)
*Lab 4: `void `/Function Pointers**
Lecture 14 (Fri 2/6): Introduction to Assembly and `x86-64` 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, along with addressing modes, data layout, and access to variables of various types.		In: assign3 Out: assign4
Week 6
Lecture 15 (Mon 2/9): Data Movement, Take II We'll play catchup and use today to finish up generics and introduce x86-64.	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.
Lecture 16 (Wed 2/11): Introduction to x86-64 ALU Operations We'll talk about arithmetic and logical instructions and work through practice reverse engineering examples.	B&O 3.5-3.6 Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide.	Midterm Exam 7-9PM
Lab 5: Assembly x86-64 in all its glory. Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide.
Lecture 17 (Fri 2/13): x86-64 Condition Codes and Control Flow We'll see how to implement C `if`/`else` in assembly.	B&O 3.5-3.6 Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide.
Week 7
Mon 2/16 - No Lecture - Oberserving Presidents Day
Lecture 18 (Wed 2/18): x86-64 Control Flow, Continued We'll continue exploring loops and conditions in assembly and discuss other uses of condition codes (`setx`/`cmov`).	B&O 3.5-3.6 Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide.	In: assign4 Out: assign5
Lab 6: Runtime Stack Fun explorations with the stack!
Lecture 19 (Fri 2/20): x86-64 Runtime Stack We'll talk about procedures and the runtime stack along with instructions for call/return, parameter passing, local stack storage, and register use.	B&O 3.7, 5.1-5.6 Be sure to check out our x86-64 guide.
Week 8
Lecture 20 (Mon 2/23): Privacy, Trust and Managing the Heap We'll discuss assign5's focus on reverse engineering executables. We'll do lots of reverse engineering practice to get you up to speed on assign5!
Lecture 21 (Wed 2/25): Managing the Heap Topic 6: How do core memory-allocation operations like `malloc` and `free` work? We'll have larger discussions of privacy and trust, and then move on to our final main topic. We'll see how the heap fits into the address space and introduce design decisions for implementing `malloc`/`realloc`/`free`, as well as performance tradeoffs (throughput, utilization).
No labs this week.
Lecture 22 (Fri 2/27): Managing the Heap, Continued We'll learn about 3 different heap allocator designs: the bump allocator, the implicit free list allocator, and the explicit free list allocator, and compare them and discuss performance tradeoffs (throughput, utilization).	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
Week 9
Lecture 23 (Mon 3/2): Explicit Free List Allocator We'll learn more about the explicit free list allocator design, and other techniques employed by allocators including coalescing and in-place realloc. We'll also talk more about the requirements for assign6.	Optimally skim B&O Ch. 5
Lecture 24 (Wed 3/4): Optimization We'll explore 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!
Lab 7: Code and Memory Optimization Experiments in optimization and profiling. Be sure to check out our CS107 guide to callgrind.
Lecture 25 (Fri 3/6): Caching and Memory Hierarchies We'll continue our discussion some optimization feastures not covered on Monday, and we'll discuss how to write cache-friendly code!
Week 10
Lecture 26 (Mon 3/9): Caching and Memory Hierarchies, Take II We'll continue our discussion of caching and cache-friendly code.
Lecture 27 (Wed 3/11): 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!
Fri 3/13 - No Lecture - Off day		In: assign6
No labs this week.
Final Exam Week
Final Exam: Monday, March 16^th, 3:30 - 6:30pm