15213 INTRODUCTION COMPUTER SYSTEMS

This course provides a programmer’s view of how computer systems execute programs, store information, and communicate. It enables students to become more effective programmers, especially in dealing with issues of performance, portability and robustness. It also serves as a foundation for courses on compilers, networks, operating systems, and computer architecture, where a deeper understanding of systems-level issues is required. Topics covered include: machine-level code and its generation by optimizing compilers, performance evaluation and optimization, computer arithmetic, memory organization and management, networking technology and protocols, and supporting concurrent computation. Prerequisites: 15-113 and 15-211.

18347 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER ARCHITECHTURE

The goal of this course is to develop an understanding of the structure and operation of contemporary computer systems from the instruction set architecture level through the register transfer implementation level. We explore: theory of computation, levels of abstraction, instruction set design, assembly language programming, processor data paths, data path control, pipeline design, design of memory hierarchies, memory management, input/ output. Several of the principles presented in lecture are reinforced through laboratory projects including assembly language programming, evaluation of instruction set architectures by benchmarks, behavioral simulation of an instruction set architecture, and design/simulation of a register transfer implementation of an instruction set architecture. A contemporary behavioral/ functional/logical simulator will be used for the laboratory projects. Prerequisites: 18-240. Corequisites: 15-211

36217 PROBABILITY THEORY RANDOM PROCESSING

This course provides an introduction to probability theory. It is designed for students in electrical and computer engineering. Topics include elementary probability theory, conditional probability and independence, random variables, distribution functions, joint and conditional distributions, limit theorems, and an introduction to random processes. Some elementary ideas in spectral analysis and information theory will be given. The use of a computer package will be an integral part of this course. Not open to students who have received credit for 36-221, 36-225, or 36-325. Prerequisites: 21-118 or 21-122 or 21-256.

73200 MACROECONOMICS

A calculus-based introduction to modern macroeconomics. Building macroeconomic models from microeconomic principles, insights are developed into economic growth processes and business cycles. Topics include aggregation and measurement, national income, business cycle measurement, economic welfare theorems and social inefficiencies, the effect of government fiscal policy upon employment and productivity, and the relationship between investment, interest rates and economic growth. Ideas of multivariate calculus (such as partial derivatives) are introduced as needed and taught in the context of economic theory. Prerequisites: (73-100 or 88-220) and (21-112 or 21-120 or 21-121).

85241 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

The focus of this course will be on how peoples behavior, feelings and thoughts are influenced or determined by their social environment. The course will begin with lectures and readings on how social psychologists go about studying social behavior. Next, various topics on which social psychologists have done research will be covered. These topics will include: person perception, prejudice and discrimination, the nature of attitudes and how attitudes are formed and changed, interpersonal attraction, conformity, compliance, altruism, aggression, group behavior, and applications of psychology to problems in health care, law, politics, and the environment. Through readings and lectures on these topics, students will also be exposed to social psychological theories.