CS-2710 Computer Organization
Dr. Mark L. Hornick

Description Syllabus Policies Grading Lab info

Revision History

This is where you check for news and information regarding recent additions (assignments, announcements, etc) to this site. The latest revision will be put at the bottom of the list.

1/24/2013 - adjustments to W8-10 schedule
1/7/2013 - adjustments to schedule W5 onward
11/24/2012 - initial version

This page was last updated on 02/13/2013.

Course Description

This course provides students with an introduction to the structure of computer hardware, including the components of a modern computer system as well as the tradeoffs necessary to construct such a system. Specific course topics include numeric systems, the role of performance in designing computer systems, Amdahl's Law, instruction formats, addressing modes, computer arithmetic with both fixed and floating point numbers, single cycle and multi-cycle data-path design, pipelining, the memory hierarchy, caching, and parallel processing using SIMD and MIMD formats. Students will develop small, assembly language programs on a simulator as a means of exploring instruction formats and data-path operation. (prereq: CE-1900)

Schedule

Lectures are on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday in CC210 from 11:00am to 11:50am.

As stated in my general course policies, attendance is mandatory for all lectures. Email me when you foresee yourself to be absent. If you miss a lecture with a class exercise, you will receive a 0 grade for the associated homework assignment. Be sure to read the entire document for all relevant policies that apply to this course.

Textbook

Computer Organization and Design, 4th Edition (ISBN-10: 0123747503, ISBN-13: 978-0123747501)
David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessey, Morgan Kaufman Publishers, 2011
Note: Available as a Kindle ebook!

Syllabus

Week	Day	Topic	Reading Assignment (to be read before class)	Homework
1	M	Introduction to the course	ch 1.1-1.2	Homework 1 Due in Blackboard by 8:00am Fri, 11/30/2012 Practice exercises: 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 Prep for next week's quiz
	W	Computer Parts and Performance	ch 1.3-1.4
	R	Ohm's Law and Power	Handout, and ch 1.5
2	M	Benchmarking	ch 1.7-1.9
	W	Introduction to Instructions	ch 2.1-2.3
	R	Introduction to Instructions, continued	ch 2.4
3	M	Quiz 1		Homework 2: Problems 2.3.1, 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.3, 2.5.4, 2.5.5, 2.7 (all) Due in Blackboard by 8:00am Mon, 12/17/2012 Submit as either a .txt, .docx, or scan a handwritten page and submit as .pdf Homework 2 Solution
	W	Numeric and Instruction Representations The MARS Assembler/Simulator	Download: MARS Assembler/Simulator
	R	Logical Operations Comparison and Branching Sample Code: Demo.asm	ch 2.5-2.7
4	M	Programming practice Sample Code: branching.asm	ch 2.8-2.9	Homework 3: hw3.asm Your completed (commented and functional) hw3.asm submission is due in Blackboard by 8:00am Wednesday 1/9/2013.
	W	Procedures, the Stack Pointer Instructions for calling and returning Sample Code: subroutines.asm
	R	Quiz 2
Christmas Break
5	M	Procedures, continued Procedure arguments and return values	ch 2.12 (skim) ch 2.14 (skim, arrays were covered in lecture preceding homeword 3)	Homework 4: hw4.asm Your completed (commented and functional) submission is due in Blackboard by 8:00am Wednesday 1/16/2013. No late submissions accepted
	W	Operating system services Sample code: syscalls.asm
	R	Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication Quiz 3	ch 3.1-3.3
6	M	Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication, continued Sample Java code: MathDemo.java Sample MIPS code: MathDemo.asm		hw3_solution.asm hw4_solution.asm
	W	Binary Division Real-world Ramifications Midterm Exam Review	ch 3.4 (skim) ch 3.8 (skim) Course outcomes to-date
	R	Midterm Exam
7	M	Floating-point representation Updated sample MIPS code: MathDemo.asm	ch 3.5 ch 4.1-4.3	Homework 5 You do not have to submit the answers to problems 1 and 2.
	W	The Processor and its Datapath	ch 4.5 (skim)
	R	Pipelining	ch 4.8
8	M	Pipelining, continued Branch Prediction		hw5_solution.asm
	W		ch 5.1-5.2
	R	Cache Basics Quiz 4: floating-point representation
9	M	Cache Handling	ch 5.3	Homework 6 Due in Blackboard by 8:00am Wednesday 2/13/2013.
	W	Cache Design	ch 5.5 (skim)
	R	I/O Introduction and Reliability Quiz 5: pipeline behavior/performance	ch 6.1-6.2
10	M	Disk-based Storage Flash Storage and I/O Operation	ch 6.3 ch 6.4-6.5	Homework 6 solution
	W	Quiz 6: cache design/performance [Multicore Processors/Clusters]	[ch 7.1-7.3,7.4, 7.6]
	R	Final Exam/Review Class Climate feedback	Outcomes for Final Exam review
11		Common Final Exam Monday, Feb 18, 2013 11:00am-1:00pm Room L308

Course policies

My general course policies apply to this course

Grading algorithm

Note that this algorithm indicates how a grade will be determined for students who have successfully demonstrated mastery of the course objectives. An acceptable level of success in meeting all course objectives is a prerequisite for a passing grade in the course.

Criterion	Weight
Quizzes	20%
Homework	20%
Midterm Exam	30%
Final Exam	30%