Introduction to Computer Systems, Fall 2026

This is the class webpage for Kate Smith's section of Comp_Sci 213. Peter Dinda also has a section of 213 this quarter; his course website can be found here. Peter's webpage has many excellent references for C/C++, Gdb, architecture, and more!

Course Information

• Syllabus

Homeworks

• Homework 1
• Homework 2
• Homework 3

Labs

• Lab 1: Pack Lab
• Lab 2: Bomb Lab
• Lab 3: Attack Lab
• Lab 4: SETI (Parallelism) Lab

Lecture Notes

• Lecture 1: Introduction and Welcome
• Lecture 2: Data Representation, Binary, and Hexadecimal
• Lecture 3: Data Representation, Memory, and Encoding
• Lecture 4: Integer Encodings
• Lecture 5: Data Operations, Fractions in Binary, and Binary Operations
• Lecture 5 (bonus video): Binary Operations and Floating Point
• Lecture 6: Smaller Floating Point, FP Arithmetic, and Intro to Assembly Languages (note: we don't have a video for this lecture - I realized after class that Zoom wasn't recording.)
• Lecture: Registers and x86 Assembly

Scheduling

Scheduling information (office hours, etc.) is available on the course calendar.

Communication

We will use Canvas minimally, mostly just for grades and some homework handins. For critical announcements, we will send email to the addresses that CAESAR maintains. For discussions, we will use Piazza and Slack. Directing your questions to Piazza or Slack will likely produce the fastest response, and everyone else in the class will also benefit. Piazza is configured to allow posting that is anonymous to other students.

Accounts, Remote Access, Getting Started with Unix

• You will have a Linux account in the CS department. This will give you remote access to a range of machines, the most important of which are the servers on which the class runs. More information is in Piazza.
• We recommend you use ssh (remote login) or FastX (remote graphical desktop) to access the class servers. McIT has more info about FastX in our environment. You can also use X11 tunneled over SSH. You may also find tmux to be useful when working with partners. It allows multiple people to share the same session.
• If you haven't used Linux or Unix before, or need a refresher, please note that several resources are available on Piazza.