1. 0. Problem solving in IT (COMP1001)
Rocky K. C. Chang
September 4, 2017

2. The teaching team
Lecturer: Dr. Rocky K. C. Chang (PQ829,
Office hour: By appointment
Tutor: Dr. Dennis Liu (PQ730,
Classes:
Group 1: 14:30-16:20 on Mon and 14:30-16:20 on Wed
Group 2: 09:30-11:20 on Wed and 09:30-11:20 on Fri
Couse website:
Slides
Assignments
Latest timetable

3. Question
Which of the following is NOT the name of a programming language? B
Prolog
PLC
Modula-3
Smalltalk

4. Question Google has two datacenters in Asia. Where are they? Shanghai
Hong Kong
Changhua County, Taiwan
Singapore
Seoul, Korea
Tokyo, Japan
Guam

5. Question
Out of the ten richest men in the world, according to Forbes’ report in July, how many of them work in the IT and software field?

6. Questions Who owns Whatsapp? Who owns Instagram? IBM HP Microsoft
Amazon
Facebook
Who owns Instagram?

7. Question
According to the most recent survey, what is the average salary for a graduate to be an application developer?
US$35,000 per year
US$45,000 per year
US$55,000 per year
US$65,000 per year
US$75,000 per year
US$85,000 per year

8. Question? Any big news about computing very recently? Built by NUDT
16,000 nodes
3,120,000 cores
54,902.4 TFlop/s
17,808 kW
1,024,000 GB
Mainly Intel Xeon E5-2692v2 12C 2.2GHz processors.

15. Computer System: Layers of Abstraction
Application Program
Language
Instruction Set Architecture
(and I/O Interfaces)
Microarchitecture
Circuits
Devices
Algorithms
Software
Hardware

16. Big Idea #1: Universal Computing Device
All computers, given enough time and memory, are capable of computing exactly the same things. = =
PDA
Workstation
Supercomputer

17. From Theory to Practice
In theory, computer can compute anything
that’s possible to compute
given enough memory and time
In practice, solving problems involves computing under constraints.
time
weather forecast, next frame of animation, ...
cost
cell phone, automotive engine controller, ...
power
cell phone, handheld video game, ...

18. Big Idea #2: Transformations Between Layers
How do we solve a problem using a computer? A systematic sequence of transformations between layers of abstraction.
Problem
Software Design:
choose algorithms and data structures
Algorithm
Programming:
use language to express design
Program
Compiling/Interpreting:
convert language to machine instructions
Instr Set
Architecture

19. Deeper and Deeper… Processor Design:
Instr Set
Architecture
Processor Design:
choose structures to implement ISA
Microarch
Logic/Circuit Design:
gates and low-level circuits to implement components
Circuits
Process Engineering & Fabrication:
develop and manufacture lowest-level components
Devices

20. Descriptions of Each Level
Problem Statement
stated using "natural language"
may be ambiguous, imprecise
Algorithm
step-by-step procedure, guaranteed to finish
definiteness, effective computability, finiteness
Program
express the algorithm using a computer language
high-level language, low-level language
Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)
specifies the set of instructions the computer can perform
data types, addressing mode

21. Descriptions of Each Level (cont.)
Microarchitecture
detailed organization of a processor implementation
different implementations of a single ISA
Logic Circuits
combine basic operations to realize microarchitecture
many different ways to implement a single function (e.g., addition)
Devices
properties of materials, manufacturability

22. Many Choices at Each Level
Solve a system of equations
Gaussian
elimination
Jacobi
iteration
Red-black SOR
Multigrid
FORTRAN C
C++
Java
Intel x86
Sun SPARC
Compaq Alpha
Pentium II
Pentium III
AMD Athlon
Ripple-carry adder
Carry-lookahead adder
CMOS
Bipolar
GaAs
Tradeoffs:
cost
performance
power
(etc.)
Sun and Java are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. SPARC is a trademark of SPARC International, Inc. Intel and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation. Compaq and Alpha are trademarks or service marks of Compaq Computer Corporation. AMD and Athlon and trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

23. Three components Computer system (~5%) Computer algorithms (~20%)
CPU, memory, registers, instruction sets
Computer algorithms (~20%)
Divide and conquer, backtracking, brute force, …
Computer programming (~75%)
Python is now the top programming language, according to IEEE Spectrum's recently released fourth interactive ranking of the leading languages. Python was ranked third last year, but this year passed C and Java to claim the top stop. (July 18, 2017)

24. Pre-requisite and teaching approach
Assumed no computing background
Teaching approach: practice, practice, and practice
Understand the problem.
Design computer solutions.
Implement the solutions as computer programs.
Make sure they are correct and efficient.
Teaching approach: lecture-lab integration

25. No textbook required
John Zelle Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science 2nd Edition. Franklin, Beedle & Associates Inc., Wilsonville, OR, USA.
Allen B. Downey Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. Green Tea Press.
Charles Dierbach Introduction to Computer Science Using Python. Wiley.

26. What after COMP1001?
COMP1011: Programming fundamentals (C programming)
COMP2011: Data structures (and algorithms)
COMP2021: Object-oriented programming
COMP2421: Computer organization
COMP2423: Operating Systems
COMP2322: Computer Networking
COMP3438: System Programming
COMP4433: Embedded System

27. How will you be assessed?
Assignments: 15%
Two-three tests: 20%
Project: 20%
Exam: 45%

28. My expectations and policies
Attend all lectures on time.
Read the covered materials on your own.
Complete your assignments and project yourself and on time.
Policy regarding late submission of works
10% off for every hour late
Policy regarding plagiarism
You will betray your own integrity, whether it will be found out or not!
Both giver and receiver subject to the same penalty below
All the students involved not only will receive 0 marks for this assessment, they will also lose additional, same number of marks from their total assessment marks.
Moreover, we may report the serious cases to the Departmental Learning and Teaching Committee for further disciplinary actions.

29. That’s about it for the introduction.
Let’s enjoy the course together.

30. What you need to do this week is
Installing Python 3.5 or above from and playing with it.
Bring your notebook, if you have one, starting from the next time.

31. Acknowledgements
Slides are from those prepared for Y. Patt and S. Patel, Introduction to Computing Systems, Second Edition, McGraw Hill 2004.

32. End
"All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23