Computer Laboratory

Code:

EIC0020

Acronym:

LCOM

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Computer Arquitechture

Instance: 2020/2021 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Web Page:	http://web.fe.up.pt/~pfs/aulas/lcom2020/
Responsible unit:	Department of Informatics Engineering
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Informatics and Computing Engineering

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIEIC	221	Syllabus since 2009/2010	2	-	6	70	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

1- Introduction

I/O devices are an integral part of a computer, without which the usefulness or the ease of use of a computer would be significantly lower. The importance of I/O devices in computer-based systems has increased since the first generation of computers, and it continues up to these days with the ever increasing use of computers in embedded systems. However, programming of I/O devices using their programatic interface requires specific knowledge and techniques.

2- Specific Objectives

This course unit aims to endow students with the knowledge and the skills required to:

• use the hardware interface of the most common computer peripherals;
• develop low level software and embedded software;
• program in the C language (using C++ as a reference);
• use various tools of software development.

3- Percentual Distribution

Scientific: 30%
Tecnological: 70%

Learning outcomes and competences

Students, who successfully complete this course unit, should understand the main models of hardware access and be able to apply them in the development of relatively large programs.

 

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Students should have the knowledge and have acquired the competencies expected from approval in the courses:

• EIC0012: Programação
• EIC0016: Microprocessadores e computadores pessoais

Program

Input/Output peripherals and their operation. Direct mapping in a process address space. Access to peripherals in polled mode and by interrupt. Processor interrupts in the IA-32 architecture and the interrupt controller, interrupt service routines.

Study of some typical personal computer peripherals, such as the keyboard, mouse, graphics card, real-time clock, timer, loudspeaker, and serial port.

Programming in the C programming language: main differences with respect to C++ language; structured programming in C. Memory layout of a process. Function calls: mechanisms, parameter passing, storage of local variables, and return values. Event-based programming.

Creation and use of libraries. Static linking of object code.

 Use of software development tools: cc, make, ar, diff, patch, Git and doxygen.

Mandatory literature

Muhammad Ali Mazidi, Janice Gillispie Mazidi; The 80X86 IBM PC and compatible computers. ISBN: 0-13-121975-8

Complementary Bibliography

Daniel W. Lewis; Fundamentals of embedded software. ISBN: 0-13-061589-7

Teaching methods and learning activities

A "learn by doing" approach will be used. In the first 8 lab classes, the students will carry out in groups lab assignments about some of the most common PC peripherals.  In the remaining weeks, students will develop, also in groups, a small integration project using several peripherals and the techniques previously studied.

Lecture classes will be used to present the concepts, taking into account their application in the lab assignments, and to discuss the details of the lab assignments and the projects.

Software

Doxygen
Minix 3
VirtualBox
CLANG compiler and assembler
Git sistema de controlo de versões

keywords

Physical sciences > Computer science > Programming
Physical sciences > Computer science > Computer architecture

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Teste	50,00
Trabalho laboratorial	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	20,00
Frequência das aulas	62,00
Trabalho laboratorial	80,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

In order to obtain "frequência" students must:
1) Have a minimum grade of 8 (out of 20) in at least one of the programming tests;
2) Develop and demonstrate the final integration project;
3) Fill the self-evaluation form of the final project.
4) Attend at least 75% of the scheduled classes.

 

Calculation formula of final grade

0,25 * (PT1+PT2) + 0,5 * Project

where:

PT1 and PT2  are the grades of the first and of the second programming tests, respectively

Although the project will be done in groups of 2 students, exceptionally of 1 or 3, members of the same group may have different grades.

For approval, students must have a minimum grade of 10 (out of a maximum of 20) in both the average of the programming tests and the project.

 

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

The above grading rules apply to all students.

Classification improvement

Students have to take the programming tests and develop a new project in the following year.

Observations

In extraordinary situations (such as registration of students who do not know Portuguese), classes can be taught in English.