Nashville, Tennessee
June 22, 2003
June 22, 2003
June 25, 2003
2153-5965
9
8.86.1 - 8.86.9
10.18260/1-2--11839
https://peer.asee.org/11839
1568
Session 1772
A New Role of Assembly Language in Computer Engineering/Science Curriculum
Afsaneh Minaie Reza Sanati-Mehrizy Assistant Professor Associate Professor minaieaf@uvsc.edu sanatire@uvsc.edu
Computing and Networking Sciences Department Utah Valley State College
Abstract:
A separate assembly language course in computer engineering/science curriculum is not required by curriculum guidelines anymore4. This is because assembly language programmer is not needed in industry and the curriculum does not afford to include a separate course for assembly language programming. However, it is essential for students to be exposed to assembly language to understand the different concepts in computer engineering/science.
In our introductory computer architecture and assembly language course, we are teaching assembly language using 8086 architecture and Turbo Assembler’s Ideal mode for about seven weeks in order to introduce the basic concepts of computer architecture and organization. The students will benefit from knowledge of assembly language programming early in the curriculum not only for better understanding of computer organization and architecture, but it will help them with the concepts such as data representation, instruction interpretation, compiler design, system programming, cost of language abstractions and hardware/software tradeoffs. In this paper, we elaborate the detail content of our introductory computer architecture & assembly language course and the teaching strategies and analyze its outcome.
Introduction
Computer engineering and computer science fields are expanding in all directions. All the subject areas have grown and new subject areas have been added. Since, there are a limited number of courses that can be included in a curriculum model; some of the existing courses will have to be dropped to introduce new ones. As software applications become more complex, more industries use high level languages. The lack of need in industry makes assembly language programming to be a good candidate for elimination from the curriculum. The newer curriculum standards 4 now
Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education
Sanati-Mehrizy, R., & Minaie, A. (2003, June), A New Role Of Assembly Language In Computer Engineering/Science Curriculum Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--11839
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