30-06-2012, 05:21 PM
Computing
[attachment=26366]
Assignment Grace Days
Students are allocated a total of 4 grace days for the marked assignments in this course
Grace days may be used to avoid conflicts with deadlines in other courses
Example:
You may hand in Assignment 1 two days after the official submission deadline and use two of your grace days
Advance notice is not required to use grace days
Once all grace days have been utilized, assignments must be submitted on time to receive a grade
In Case of Absence
Course attendance is not marked in ECE 150
You must obtain a medical certificate if you miss an assignment deadline or an examination for health reasons
Medical certificates can be obtained from Health Services
If you must miss a laboratory session or an examination to participate in a co-op interview, it is your responsibility to inform your lab instructor / teaching assistants prior to the absence
When in doubt, consult your instructor / tutors / teaching assistants
Definition of a Computer
It should be noted that the formal definition of a computer encompasses devices other than just personal computers
Computers are often embedded into other systems
Anti-lock braking systems
MP3 players
Cellular phones
Televisions
Statistically speaking, personal computers (PCs) represent a very small fraction of the computer marketplace
What is a Programmable Computer?
A programmable computer provides the following features:
The ability to store a sequence of instructions to execute
The ability to perform tasks repeatedly
The ability to conditionally select a path of execution
Memory Systems
Memory systems use a linearly addressable array of cells to store binary information
Each cell has a unique address
Each cell stores a single binary digit (bit)
Cells may be grouped to represent a larger range of possible values
Memory systems can store both instructions and data
Programs (hopefully) keep track of which memory cells contain instructions and which memory cells contain data
A Computer Program
A computer program is an instruction sequence to perform a particular task
Programs can be created in machine language but this development process is very tedious
See Figure 1.1 of the textbook for an example of a machine language program in binary representation
Software developers use assemblers, interpreters, and compilers to build computer programs
[attachment=26366]
Assignment Grace Days
Students are allocated a total of 4 grace days for the marked assignments in this course
Grace days may be used to avoid conflicts with deadlines in other courses
Example:
You may hand in Assignment 1 two days after the official submission deadline and use two of your grace days
Advance notice is not required to use grace days
Once all grace days have been utilized, assignments must be submitted on time to receive a grade
In Case of Absence
Course attendance is not marked in ECE 150
You must obtain a medical certificate if you miss an assignment deadline or an examination for health reasons
Medical certificates can be obtained from Health Services
If you must miss a laboratory session or an examination to participate in a co-op interview, it is your responsibility to inform your lab instructor / teaching assistants prior to the absence
When in doubt, consult your instructor / tutors / teaching assistants
Definition of a Computer
It should be noted that the formal definition of a computer encompasses devices other than just personal computers
Computers are often embedded into other systems
Anti-lock braking systems
MP3 players
Cellular phones
Televisions
Statistically speaking, personal computers (PCs) represent a very small fraction of the computer marketplace
What is a Programmable Computer?
A programmable computer provides the following features:
The ability to store a sequence of instructions to execute
The ability to perform tasks repeatedly
The ability to conditionally select a path of execution
Memory Systems
Memory systems use a linearly addressable array of cells to store binary information
Each cell has a unique address
Each cell stores a single binary digit (bit)
Cells may be grouped to represent a larger range of possible values
Memory systems can store both instructions and data
Programs (hopefully) keep track of which memory cells contain instructions and which memory cells contain data
A Computer Program
A computer program is an instruction sequence to perform a particular task
Programs can be created in machine language but this development process is very tedious
See Figure 1.1 of the textbook for an example of a machine language program in binary representation
Software developers use assemblers, interpreters, and compilers to build computer programs