CS 2410 Computer Architecture Fall 2008 5313 SENNOTT SQUARE, 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM, MW

News! (Updated Wednesday, November 26)

• 11/26: The new project program has been posted. See the project web site.
• 11/10: An article about SMT. Please read for Wednesday, Nov. 12.
• 10/07: A list of material covered by the mid-term exam is available.
• 10/06: D. Sima's article on register renaming. This article is available through IEEE Explorer (free when accessed on campus).
• 09/24: Scott McFarling article on branch prediction. It's very good!
• 09/22: List of problems is now available. Please help to contribute answers.
• 09/14: Project step #1 is available on the project web site.
• 09/09: An example mid-term exam from 2004 is available. I currently don't have a key for it. The material on the mid-term this semester will be slightly different since we're using a different book. I do, however, expect the exam format and question style to be similar to this sample exam.
• 09/09: I have posted the final exam and preliminary exam from 2004. This sample exam is to give an idea of the style of questions that might be asked, rather than specific content. The sample is also a good way to test your current understanding of computer architecture.
• 09/09: The schedule is updated with RA and SWP slides. Check it out.
• The book store made an error with the book. The fourth edition of the text book is actually available. They have ordered it. The books will be in the book store by next Wednesday (Sept 3). We will use the fourth edition.
• There is confusion from the book store about the textbook. They claim the new edition (4th) of the graduate text won't be available until October. However, the 4th edition is widely available from other sources. We're trying to clarify what was ordered by the book store. It isn't on the shelf yet, at last report. My recommendation: Don't buy any textbook until we clarify what has actually been ordered!
• Course announcements will appear here! It's your responsibility to check this "news" regularly as important changes, updates, etc. might appear at any time.

Instructor

Bruce Childers (childers@cs.pitt.edu)
6409 Sennott Square
Phone: 412-624-8421
Office Hours: MW 2:15-3:15pm and 5:15-6:15pm (tentative)

Much of the information on this web page is tentative and subject to change before the first day of class. I will make the information concrete by the first class.

Quick Links: Syllabus, Schedule

Teaching Assistant

None
Office: N/A
E-mail: N/A
Office hours: N/A

The TA is your first source of information. If you have questions about the labs, projects, etc. you should first check with him. Also, he can answer questions about Solaris and C programming.

Description

A study of the hardware structure of computer systems and subsystems. Topics include: processor architecture, parallelism and pipelining, cache and main memory organization, I/O controllers and I/O processors, and interconnection structures.

Textbook and Papers

Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, John Hennessy and David Patterson, Fourth Edition, Morgan Kaufmann.

There will also be several assigned readings from important conference and journal papers. The papers will be made available through this web site (on the course schedule page).

Requirements and Grading

The course will have a significant group programming project, a group presentation (depending on course enrollment), a mid-term and a final exam. Regular course participation is also required. It is very unlikely you will pass the course without doing all of the work. The overall course grade will be computed as follows:

• 30% project,
• 30% mid-term,
• 30% final,
• 10% participation/presentation.

You may ask to have an exam, homework, or project regraded. However, the entire exam, homework, or project will be regraded. This may or may not result in a grade change, either up or down. To have an exam, homework, or project regraded, you must hand in the item with a typewritten paragraph explaining what was not graded correctly. To have something regraded, you must ask for the regrading by the next class period after the homework, project, or exam was returned.

Preliminary Exam

The Computer Architecture Ph.D. preliminary exam is given as part of this course. The preliminary exam will be the final exam with a few additional questions. The additional questions will be given at the same time as the final exam. Students that are not taking the preliminary exam do not have to stay for the additional questions. Students that are taking the preliminary exam have to stay for the entire exam and will be given extra time to finish the additional questions. The final is given on the last scheduled lecture day.