About the Course/Instructor

CSC 211 - Computer Organization and Architecture - Weinman

1  2022

1.1  About the Course

Q.
What day of the week will quizzes usually be?
A.
The schedule shows they are almost always on Fridays.
Q.
Is there any preferred format for notebooks for the class? I know other courses with a lab component (for instance, in physics) require certain types of notebook for use in the lab.
A.
You don't need to keep a lab book the way you might in other science labs. The lab staff will be checking off the functionality of your work, but not your notebook records. Thus, how you choose to record things are up to you.
Q.
What would your dream computer look like?
A.
Oh. Hrm. I don't know, there's a lot of different ways I could take that question. Probably it would use a lot less power than current models do.
Q.
I remember during class time that you said I can send my topic anytime I want regardless of the date I am presenting. I just wanted to confirm this.
A.
Yes, you can submit your SigBit topic proposal early, any time up to your proposal deadline.
Q.
When did you decide to adopt the electronics devices policy?
A.
I first applied it to my Spring 2018 courses.
Q.
What will the structure of the midterm and final exams look like? Will there be a practical portion to them?
A.
I'm not sure what is meant by "practical." You'll have to solve problems and write code. For each exam, you'll be given a list of learning outcomes (i.e., things you are expected to know how to do) as well as a set of potential practice problems from the textbook.
Q.
I have class regulary on Thursday when mentor session is held. Is there any alternative options that I have?
A.
That's mentor office hours, not the mentor session, which will be at a different time. So it's not any different than having classes that conflict with my office hours. If you do end up having a conflict with the scheduled mentor session time, I'm sorry.
Q.
What should a student do if he or she gets COVID-19 or need to be quarantined?
A.
Reach out to me ASAP. Communication will be most important so we can determine how best to proceed with keeping you on track with the course.
Q.
I have seen the cases for other classes doing hybrid classes because of COVID, and I was wondering how it would look like for CSC211 (if we are using physical circuits... etc... )
A.
If you are out sick and/or need to isolate, you will be granted an extension on any labs requiring the use of physical hardware.
Q.
What things do students that do well in this class do? Another way of asking this question might be what are a few historically profitable habits in regards to this class?
A.
This is such a great question! I only see a small part of student's study habits, but here are some things I've noticed.
  1. They take good notes. (I'm happy to review your notes with you if you want feedback).
  2. They ask questions during class.
  3. They start homework early and use several opportunities to ask questions each day as they arise.
  4. They attend mentor sessions.
  5. They work suggested practice problems from the textbook and ask questions about those they do not understand.
Q.
I wonder if you have any extra tips for working on the labs in this course, and how to best absorb the information in the course (I did find your recommendations for reading texts especially helpful).
A.
For physical circuits, work slowly, and carefully. Keep your build organized. Double-check your work AS YOU GO. If it doesn't work after you've built it all, it can be very tedious to double check then. (Though you'll need to.
For simulations, you'll also want to keep things well-organized and documented.
For homework start early, and ask questions at several points as you hit roadblocks. Don't wallow for especially long periods.
Q.
What should a student do if they feel like they are falling behind?
A.
Come and talk in office hours (instructor and/or mentor's) and go to mentor sessions. Try to come prepared with questions about things you feel uncertain about; that will go a long way toward helping to focus discussions.
Q.
Will we be learning how to solder, or doing any soldering??
A.
Sadly, no. That's covered in PHY 220 (Electronics), and we'll be doing all our work on the breadboard for easy construction/deconstruction (with no hazardous fumes).
Q.
Will there be any particular safety equipment or procedures we will need to familiarize ourselves with when putting together/handling physical components? I tend to get somewhat anxious about breaking equipment, and the Dilbert comic reminded me how easily things like frying a stick of RAM can occur.
A.
Thanks for asking! Most of our equipment is not that expensive (ranging from pennies for individual chips to about $50 for the Microstick), but some general care will go a long way. We won't worry too much about it. (And, per the comic, it's CMOS chips that are more dreadfully susceptible to static; that's one reason we're using TTL chips.)
Q.
Do I get to keep anything I build?
A.
Only memories. But some will be driven by software, so that's certainly yours to own. (You'll have to supply your own microprocessor on which to run it, though.)
Q.
When will I be able to declare as a CS major?
A.
The process will begin collectively for the class of 2024 in late February or early March so that we can hit the "by spring break" declaration deadline.
Q.
Most of the CS classes before are all related to codes. How do we study for this class then? Do we need to focus on the concepts and how they're connected, or rather focus more on the lab practices?
A.
Some of this class will also be about writing code (in assembly language), but otherwise using circuits and logic to solve problems related to computing design. Each exam will have a list of skills you're expected to perform and textbook exercises to help practice them.
Q.
In this class, we'll be learning about the MIPS architecture and assembly language. How big of a difference is there between MIPS and ARM? Will we be able to work in ARM assembly fairly easily after this course?
A.
While I am not intimiately familiar with ARM, I surmise you'll be able to take it up, as it shares a lot of underlying design philosophy with MIPS (namely, RISC).
Q.
Will we be informed about quizzes ahead of time, or are they intended to be surprise quizzes?
A.
They're all on the schedule already. No surprises!
Q.
Are there opportunities for extra-credit in the class?
A.
No; equity is important for me and I want my course credit practices to be based strictly on the learning outcomes, rather than extras you may or may not have bandwidth to accomplish.
Q.
It is interesting that Assignments and Labs take up a bulk of the grade for the class. Is there a pedagogical or psychological rationale/explanation for this?
A.
Well, the remainder would just be timed exams and quizzes. Making it more like 80-90% exams would be more like educational practices in many other countries perhaps, but I think this is more a balanced measure of all the skills I want you to be able to demonstrate in the course. Some things need more time, and some things I can be surer of by way of an exam, so I've tried to balance their contribution to your overal assessment.
Q.
Also slightly related, but are there some mistakes people have made in the past on assignments and labs that we should be wary of?
A.
Hrm. Not paying attention to grader feedback on the style points. Not reading instructions carefully (for example: "we won't use the delay slot in MARS, so don't write for it" was one instruction a very smart student ignored, and it cost a lot of points.)
Q.
How much of the stuff we learn in this class can apply to Arduino boards?
A.
Quite a lot actually. You'll have a few deficiencies, but nothing a few tutorials won't remedy.
Q.
If you had limitless resources and authority to change anything about the way this class (or any other CS course) is taught in Grinnell, what would you change?
A.
Hrm. I'd love if we could do a two-semester required course that integrated 211 and 213.

1.2  About Me

Q.
It would be interesting to ask, What are your passions besides Computer Science?
A.
Top #3: Cooking (esp. international cuisines). Doing things outdoors (including cooking). Reading (not necessarily outdoors or about food, but mostly [literary?] fiction, as a break from my non-fictional day job.
Q.
Who is your favorite (or role model) computer scientist of all time?
A.
My family will tell you I'm terrible at favorites. I certainly admire Turing because he thought creatively, wrote exceedingly well, looked for applications across a many number of disciplines (cf. evolutionary biology), worked for the public good, and suffered through some of the most awful oppression imagineable.
Q.
Which class is your favorite one to teach?
A.
Ditto. Bad at favorites. I enjoy CSC 211 (actually using my fingers on something other than a keyboard is very nice), and CSC 261/CSC 262 (my specializations, which I love to share enthusiasm for).
Q.
What was your favorite computer science course in college?
A.
Probably my favorite class was the mathematics of image processing. It was a math class, but launched my professional career in a way. I eventually took computer vision as a computer science class, but it was the math class that I most appreciated, being fundamentally about representation (with a totally new appreciation for linear algebra).
Q.
P=NP?
A.
0x0
Q.
I'm always curious to learn more about my professors: What got you interested in computers in the first place? Why are you teaching this class in particular? What's your favorite class to teach?
A.
I took a BASIC programming class at a summer camp in 7th grade. I loved the logic and control that came with writing programs; to me it felt like wizardry (this was decades before Harry Potter).
I started teaching this class because there was a need. While I took Computer Architecture in college myself, I did not in graduate school and I remembered only the experience of having created my own computer design, but almost none of the actual material. So the first time I did not teach the labs, only the lecture section (it was not taught in a workshop format then). It turns out I really enjoy teaching the class and have learned so much in doing so (it also was an excuse for me to take PHY 220 Electronics with Professor Tjossem a few years ago so I could really understand what was happening one level of abstraction below where I was working). This class is now one of my favorites. For the others, see above.
Q.
Do you like/play chess?
A.
I don't play chess. My kids do, though. They play against each other (ages 6 and 9), since their old man doesn't.
Q.
How much has the field of Computer Architecture changed since you first came across it? (Except for Moore s Law, the proverbial silicon elephant in the room.)
A.
I mentioned I used the same textbook in 1999. That hasn't changed, but the field's embrace of the ideas in that book are finally coming around, a quarter century later. RISC machines are dominating now, because portable computing is the major source of sales and even Apple devices are now exclusively using RISC (ARM) chips. It may be the the days of CISC (x86) are numbered.
Q.
What is your least favorite color? What non-CS courses at Grinnell would you recommend to a student?
A.
Oh, but there's 16,777,216 to choose from. How could I ever? (No idea: favorite is green.) I love the Catalog's six Elements of a Liberal Education, so I strongly encourage students to experience the multiple "ways of knowing" outlined there.
Q.
Do you have a favorite algorithm related to machine learning?
A.
Oh, so many to choose from and so bad at favorites! Temporal difference updates (from reinforcement learning) are pretty cool, but I also love belief propagation. Or maybe just Bayes' rule!
Q.
 

2  2020

2.1  About the Course

Q.
How will you grade things anonymously? I notice you want us to include a reference document for each lab, so will that be used for you to know our identity?
A.
Your name won't be on the physical work that we look at, but since you will turn it in through a computer system, the folder it belongs to is associated with your name. And yes, the references do de-anonymize you (through your "initials"-cum-signature), but we don't read that until after we've established a baseline grade.
Q.
Is there a software that we would need to download for the course?
A.
It is optional and will be covered as we progress through the labs. In short, all is available via the MathLAN already, though it is free/libre and also available for your own personal devices.
Q.
What parts of the course have students historically found most interesting, and what have they most struggled with?
A.
Ooh, that's a cool question. I always ask what students enjoyed most about he course ... but those papers are locked up in my office on campus. I'd like to think the biggest struggles are with the software we use, rather than any concepts. I look forward to learning your answers to these questions.
Q.
I was originally going to say no further questions, but I remembered I wanted to ask what steps should I take to get a tutor for this course.
A.
It s very early in the course, and I sense you might be having some trepidation. I admit it feels like we re moving fast, but I will also share with you that the class sessions are in fact exactly the same and at the same speed as in our fourteen week semester. (There s only fewer of them.) So take heart - you can do this, just like many students before you have. I encourage you to develop connections with those in the course and perhaps find ways you can work and study together. (The labs are collaborative, so you already have that as an advantage.)
There aren t generally individual tutors for courses above the 100-level intro sequence (CSC 151 and CSC 161). However, the mentor and I are available for copious amounts of office hours, so I hope you will avail yourself of us to ask lots of questions as they arise. I wouldn t be sad if you dropped by every single day!
Please keep me posted on how things are going for you.

2.2  About Me

Q.
What do you like to do for fun?
A.
I love cooking (especially barbecue and grilling - they are different! - but also many foods from around the world), being outdoors (fishing, hiking, camping, etc.), and traveling. I also read fiction extensively (I try to spend my last hour of the evening reading fiction.)
Q.
Have you taught your children how to code yet, and if not, do you plan on teaching them while they re young?
A.
Yes, we started playing Robot Turtles at age 4, and my 7yo is already programming in blocks languages (for his legos and Scratch, Jr.).
Q.
What s your view on bionic implants, specifically cybernetic eyes?
A.
Sounds hard, but it would be cool for the visually impaired. And game changing for those who wire in alternate spectral modalities (i.e., infrared, thermal, etc.). Mind blown.
Q.
I m interested in increasing course integrations for the Maker Lab and was wondering if you had any project ideas on how the Maker Lab could help enrich CS courses.
A.
None immediately come to mind, but I will let you know!
Q.
How did you end up at Grinnell?
A.
Briefly, I wanted to focus on teaching at least as much as I do on scholarship (research); Grinnell's application deadline was earliest among the places I applied, and they won the race by giving me an offer to work here first. I'm tremendously fortunate to belong to such a fantastic community.
Q.
This might be kind of mundane, but how do you want me to address you in emails? Professor Weinman, Jerod, Prof Weinman, Prof Jerod, something else?
A.
Either Professor/Prof. Weinman or Jerod, I suppose. Just Jerod is fine. Thanks for asking!
Q.
Favorite dinosaur
A.
Hm. Big thumbs up to Iguanodon.

3  2019

3.1  About the Course

Q.
What would a typical exam look like and will it focus on?
Q.
Can you tell us more about the format of the exams?
A.
Topics on the exams will be given on the course schedule. They will tell you the kinds of things you should be able to do.
Q.
How does this class relate to other CS classes taught at Grinnell College and software engineering?
Q.
How much of the learnings from this course can be applied to a profession such as Software Engineer/Data Engineer?
A.
As I've already mentioned, it's closely related to the topics in Operating Systems and Parallel Algorithms (CSC 213), and every programmer should understand what's happening at least one level below the layer of abstraction at which they're working. That makes you a much better software engineer. You'll structure things to better respect the constraints of the hardware and/or your code will be more efficient.
Q.
What would you most highly recommend for a student to do in order to be successful in this course?
A.
Spend as much time considering the circuit diagrams as you do reading the English prose. Test yourself and don't waste time re-reading. (I give sample exercises and learning expectations for each exam; use them!)
Q.
How do you grade the assignment? Is it based on a rubric?
A.
I use programs to grade your assignments. That, or the mentor and I check that you did things correctly. Most of the time, the part is either all correct or all wrong. (Binary seems fitting for this class.)
Q.
I never heard of Piazza or used it in any of the classes. Why did you decide to use Piazza instead of just using Blackboard?
A.
I used to use Blackboard discussion posts. They are consistently terrible. Piazza allows your peers to answer (they're often faster than I am), and the user interface is much more pleasant as well. (For example, it's easy to tag a post with the appropriate topic, such as "Lab 4".)
But as a PostScript, I'm sorry if they show you weird advertisements.
Q.
Will there be any extra credit opportunities during the semester?
A.
If you truly wow me on some part of your Significant Bit, a grade of "check plus" is greater than a 4.0. Other than that, not likely.
Q.
When the mentor sessions will be held (in the works)?
A.
Yes.
Q.
Will the mentor sessions be structured as office hours or as more of a lecture?
A.
Not office hours as homework help, but an opportunity (with discussion, perhaps quizzes or exercises) to engage with the material and/or ask more questions. More testing leads to better learning, so having an excuse/opportunity to test your knowledge should be advantageous.
Q.
What programming language is this class using?
A.
C and MIPS.
Q.
What are the course and the instructor about?
A.
Those are the blank templates for me to answer these questions. :-)
Q.
Is C the only high-level programming language that we will use in this course?
A.
Pretty much.
Q.
What portion of the course material is focussed on understanding historical choices made by individuals and corporations and what portion is driven by modern theoretical understanding?
A.
Wow, that's a fantastic question. Many systems courses are often just a dry exposition of "here's the way things are/were." I like that this book tends to give you a bit more theoretical motivation. However, they are less good at focusing on the history. (That is, until the recent CACM article mentioned that we'll probably read later.)
Q.
When are assignments assigned and what is their format? This should also cover the answer to another question I have: How long do we have to complete each assignment?
A.
Three are assignments to build circuits in a logical simulator, and one is an assignment to write some short programs in assembly. They will typically be out for about 7-10 days, but you'll have to manage your time as they may overlap some with your collaborative labwork. Early in the semester labs will mostly be competed during class, however.

3.2  About Me

Q.
In terms of not using certain products around the classroom and office, I usually use head & shoulders shampoo, Dove soap, and Old Spice deodorant in the morning. If I keep with those, would it accommodate your allergies?
A.
Thanks so much for asking! Those are pretty average things and shouldn't be a problem. The only situation I could imagine is if you showed up at 8:30 am office hours immediately after showering.
Q.
How do you view yourself (e.g.: as an educator, as a person, etc.)
A.
Um, I use the mirror? (Har har.)
That's a pretty general question, I'm not even sure where to begin. So here's one (since it was Friday's Merriam-Webster word of the day and I just learned it) I'm admittedly a bit of a martinet ("a person who stresses a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods") , which is probably why I identify so well with the field of computer science. I try to mitigate when this tendency is to my disadvantage, though I do not always succeed.
Q.
How did you have so many minors in your undergraduate?
A.
It was only two, but the conjunctions make it confusing. Allow me to parse. My first minor was Philosophy and Religion. My second minor was Science, Technology, and Society. I loved both, so I made sure that pretty much every non-(CS-or-math) class I was taking counted toward one of these. Tip o' the hat: Professor Thad Smith taught me how to read the newspaper. (Thanks Thad!)
Q.
What's your favorite programming language, and why?
A.
If you'd asked me a few years ago, I would have said Matlab, because it was what I did all my research work in. As a vectorized language with an extensive toolkit, I could write powerful code with very few statements. However, it lacks a lot of elegance as it has evolved over several decades with lots of backwards compatibility.
These days when I have no other reason to choose something like bash for utter simplicity (piping, redirection, and the command-line tools get a lot of things done), I probably go to Python for its straight-forward scripting with nice lambda and list processing features. However, its lack of strong typing is a big headache for any serious projects.
Q.
How did you first discover Grinnell, and why did you decide to become a professor?
A.
Even though I grew up in Nebraska (though the far west side of the state), I'd never heard of Grinnell until I began looking for faculty jobs. I decided to become a professor because it gave me the freedom to explore the realm of ideas and work to solve problems I found important. I became a professor at a liberal arts college because I believe I can have more impact by teaching many hundreds of students to be critical thinkers and forces for good in the world.
Q.
Can you tell me about your area of expertise in the field of CS?
A.
My research involves applied computer vision. You can read about some of my projects here.
Q.
How many hours do you sleep regularly, and how many hours of sleep do you recommend your students to have?
A.
I usually try to be lights out before 10 pm. I don't have a smart phone, but I retreat to my bedroom by 9 pm so that I have a full hour of wind down time. I prefer to read (usually fiction) from 8-9 pm, but during the school year I find that time is often spent clearing a backlog of email or making sure I'm ready for class. Thus, the hour of screen-free time is critical. My alarm rouses me at 6 am, for a round 8 hours.
I don't have a reference, but I've lately heard that 8.5 hours is a healthy amount. You will learn better and retain more if you get at least 8 hours of sleep, rather than only 6 hours of sleep to get two more hours of work done.
Q.
How did you become interested in computer science?
A.
I was introduced to programming at a summer camp around 7th grade (BASIC). I continued to learn more through high school classes (Pascal, then C++).
Q.
What is your favorite color?
A.
Generally things in the green family. (Darker, like forest.) Perhaps something like 0x005400.
Q.
What would you be doing if you weren't a computer scientist?
A.
Whoah. That's a hard one since doing computer science is such a long time part of my identity. I love reading, learning, cooking, playing music, gardening, and enjoying the outdoors, so I'd probably try to find a vocation suitable for the liberal arts-oriented person in me that could connect as many of those as possible.

4  2018

4.1  About the Course

Q
Are we allowed to use calculators during class and/or exams?
A
Yes; I'll make sure they're provided at appropriate points.
Q
why does the course need to be 2 hours 3 times a week?
A
It's a workshop-style science course. That means we need plenty of time for you to work in class where your partner, the mentor, and professor are available simultaneously.

4.2  About Me

Q
Do you have any hidden talents?
A
I'm assuming you mean hidden from you, rather than hidden from me (which would mean the answer is "I don't know-they're still hidden!"). I'm a fair fingerstyle guitar player and a pretty decent cook.
Q
Do you have any insight into the (possible) overlap of computer science and religious studies?
A
Just as one example, there is a lot of computational work in reconstructing ancient texts (usually religious). I find both image-based and language-based approaches deeply interesting.
Q
What is your favorite thing to eat when you are sick?
A
Hm. I suppose it depends on what I'm sick with. Usually I don't eat much of anything, but try to drink a lot of water and tea.
Q
Where is your field of expertise in CS.
A
Computer vision, powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence. Most recently, I've been working to automatically extract textual and geographical information from photographs of historical maps.
Q
Why did you decide to major in computer science, is that reason still the same, and do you have any regrets?
A
I was first introduced to programming in seventh grade at a summer camp. Since then, I've loved controlling the machine and using it to solve problems. While I currently program machines to learn, I still love using them to solve problems (see the previous question. No regrets about CS!
Q
Why have you decided to continue teaching at Grinnell for so long?
A
Well, getting tenure certainly helps. But in all seriousness, I share Grinnell's commitment to social justice, and I love the kind of student that ethos attracts, particularly in Computer Science, where its easy simply to be dazzled by many other factors.
Q
How did you decide on what you wanted to specialize in and learn it?
A
As a college junior, I took a class on the mathematics of image processing. I loved the simultaneous beauty of the abstraction and the concrete visual results. From there I continued to learn more about computer vision and machine learning (taking college classes in each). So at its root, it was about exploring to find something that truly fascinated me as useful, interesting, and beautiful.

5  2015

5.1  About the Course

Q
In the past, I ve used Stack Overflow and similar websites for information while working on assignments. Could you clarify what level of specificity is allowed when looking for help online?
A
Per the syllabus:
That means (more or less) you shouldn't copy solutions from online, but if you didn't understand the transistor reading you're more than welcome to find other sources discussing them.
Q
For someone who enjoys coding, but is unsure about his interest in the actual construction of circuits and the inner workings of computers, how will I stack up against the students who have a background in this field? Should I be worried?
A
Nah. We're all in this together, and my best advice is that all good programmers understand what is happening at the level of abstraction beneath where they are programming.
Q
How much time should I expect to spend on the weekly assignments?
A
It will vary. Some will be holdovers from lab, but my hope is 1-2 hours, on average.
Q
Is tutoring available for the class?
A
No; for better or worse I'm your primary resource other than your peers.
Q
What language will we be using in this class?
A
MIPS, C, and logic gates.
Q
I am curious about how much the workload will be from the course.
A
Me too.
Q
The David Kramer cited under section 5.5 of the Syllabus is not David Kraemer, the student, correct?
A
I'm assuming not, but as was pointed out in class, I've never seen them in the same place simultaneously.
Q
In section 5.1 (The Final Notes part), you say, After carefully reading the material, mentally review and try making a few notes to yourself... Is this supposed to mean that we need to physically write down our notes? Is mentally taking notes enough or do we need a physical reading journal?
A
There's no formal journal requirement, but you're more likely to remember what to ask about in class if you actually write things down (you'll also perhaps answer your own question, as writing is a form of thinking).
Q
The other question is: the significant bits assignment page (in the Schedule section) tells us to arrive to class 10-15 minutes early in order to set up. Because I have another class until 10:50, this is impossible for me. Is this condition necessary to fully complete the significant bits assignment? If so, what should I do to accommodate this?
A
That's a good question (I've always done this at 8 AM). No, I don't think it's an impediment; but you will want to be ready to go at 11 sharp. You could consider setting up in the 9 AM hour (no other class is there) and locking the workstation screen.

5.2  About Me

Q
I am debating right now whether I should go to grad school or get a job. I always find it interesting to learn more about why people choose one over the other. Why did you choose to become a teacher over working in the industry?
A
I love that as an academic I have the freedom to pursue the questions that matter and are interesting to me. I also am blessed to interact with the wonderful and creative people that you all are in the classroom. It all means I never get to stop learning.
Q
What things do you like to do outside of teaching?
A
Many things revolving around food: gardening, preserving, barbecuing (yes, with fire at 225), and occasionally hunting and fishing as well. I also love playing with my toddler (who I sometimes make music with).
Q
Do you listen to music for fun? If so, what is currently your jam?
A
These days I listen to broadcasts more than my own picks. WMUA (jazz and world music blocks) from 8-3:30, KCRW (Morning Becomes Eclectic and Eclectic 24) from 3:30-5, and IPR (Studio One Tracks) from 7-9.
When I run, it's my iPod punk playlist, though.
Q
What is your vision for the future of AI and its various implications for humanity?
A
I'm not sure I have a vision, but I hope it's positive.
Q
I have a few questions regarding lab with Charlie, but nothing specifically for you (though I am curious if there are photos from this band you were in).
A
(One has been hanging on my inside office bulletin board for seven years.)