CS/ECE 752: Advanced Computer Architecture I

Fall 1996-1997 Offering

Instructor: Mark D. Hill and TA: Jeff Shabel

URL: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/cs752/


Computer architecture is the science and art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create a computer that meets functional, performance and cost goals. This course qualitatively and quantitatively examines computer design tradeoffs. We will learn, for example, how uniprocessors execute many instructions concurrently and why state-of-the-art memory systems are nearly as complex as processors.

Examining tradeoffs requires that you already know how to design a correct computer, as is taught is the important prerequisite CS/ECE 552. CS 537 is also a prerequisite, but it is less important, and may be taken concurrently or adequately covered with external reading.


What's New

Instructor: Mark D. Hill

Office:         6373 Comp Sci and Stat
Email:          markhill@cs.wisc.edu
Office hours:   Monday 2:00-3:00, Wednesday 11:00-12:00
                or by appointment

Teaching Assistant: Jeff Shabel

Office:         1351 Comp Sci and Stat
Phone:          263-1938
Email:          jshabel@cs.wisc.edu
Office hours:   Tuesday 10:00-11:00, Thursday 2:20-3:20,
            or by appointment

Text

  John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson,
  Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach
  Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Second Edition, 1996.
  (The 1st Edition will NOT do, as there are many improvements.)

Reader

Students will also be taught to read the literature using about two dozen papers that will be made available as four readers through DoIT. { BEGIN COMMENT (full papers NOT yet available from DoIT) (get full papers from DoIT) END COMMENT }

Lecture

Time:           11:00 - 12:15 Tuesdays and Thursdays
Place:          1263 Comp Sci and Stat
Lecture Notes (access for Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison only):

Project

The default project is to do some original research in a group of three students. For example, you could examine a modest extension to a paper studied in class or simply re-validate the data in some paper by writing your own simulator. Alternatively, you may work in a group of two to write a paper that surveys an area within computer architecture. Projects will include an oral presentation and a paper.

Examinations

There will be two midterm exams, but no final exam. The midterms are listed in in the Approximate Outline. Please advise me of any conflicts with these likely exam times before the end of the second week of classes.

Homework

There will be several assignments. Many assignments will require the review of material that is touched upon, but not covered in depth in class. Assignments will not be weighted equally. The approximate weights of each assignment will be specified when the assignment is handed out. Assignments will be due in class on the due date. NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED, except under extreme non-academic circumstances discussed with the instructor at least one week before the assignment is due.

Incompletes and Academic Misconduct

University policy on incompletes and academic misconduct will be followed strictly.

Grading

Approximate Outline

Week of Topic Topic Reading
Sep 3 Introduction Performance/Cost Chapter 1
Sep 10 Instruction sets Instruction sets Chapter 2
Sep 17 Instruction sets Memory systems cont., Chapter 5
Sep 24 Memory systems Memory systems cont.
Oct 1 Memory systems Memory systems cont.
Oct 8 Memory systems Review cont.
Oct 15 Midterm 1 ILP Chapter 3
Oct 22 ILP ILP Chapter 3 and 4
Oct 29 ILP ILP cont.
Nov 5 ILP I/O cont., Chapter 6
Nov 12 I/O Interconnects Chapter 7
Nov 19 Interconnects Review cont.
Nov 26 Midterm 2 Thanksgiving (no class) --
Dec 3 Multiprocessors Blue sky Chapter 8
Dec 10 Project talks Project talks --

Miscellanea



Last updated by Mark D. Hill at Tue Jan 21 08:48:54 CST 1997