CSCI 424/524: Computer Architecture, Fall 2018

General Information

• Time and Location: Monday/Wednesday 3:30pm-4:50PM, Small Physics Lab, 110

• Instructor: Adwait Jog (Personal Website)

  • Office hours: Monday/Wednesday 2:00PM-3:30 PM or by appointment, McGl 111

  • Email: ajog@wm.edu

• Teaching Assistant: Hongyuan Liu (Personal Website)

  • Office hours: by appointment

• Deadlines: Sept 7 (add/drop deadline) and Oct 26 (withdraw deadline). See the UG calender for more details.

• Exam Dates: Oct 17th (Midterm Exam, in-class) and Dec 11 (Final Exam, 9:00 to noon in our regular class-room, see Fall 2018 Final Exam Schedule for more details.)

Prerequisites and Course Description

Prerequisite(s): CSCI 304 and either CSCI 301 or CSCI 303

This course will introduce principles of computer design. The students will apply their knowledge of digital logic design to understand the high-level interactions between different computer system hardware components. Specifically, this course will cover various computer architecture aspects related to MIPS ISA, single-cycle data-path design, multiple-cycle design, pipelining, memory hierarchy, and multiprocessor architecture.

Textbook and Resources

• Required Textbook: Computer Organization and Design, Patterson & Hennessey (P&H), 5th Edition (MIPS Edition), see this website for more details.

• Resources: Some homeworks will also have simulation-based component. Access to a computer with remote access to a lab machine is necessary. See Simulators section for more details.

• Materials: Lecture slides, homeworks, and other course materials will be posted on Blackboard. Updates will be posted on this website as well as course announcements/reminders will be delivered via piazza. Please keep checking all forums regularly for the latest information.

• Help: It is important to start working on homeworks early, especially the homeworks that have simulation component. If you need help, show up in the office hours or ask questions in or after the class. You are also highly encouraged to use piazza to ask general clarification or conceptual questions regarding homeworks, quizzes, exams etc.

Grade Distribution (424 students)

• Homework Assignments (40%, around 8)

• In-class/Blackboard Quizzes and Class participation (10%)

• In-class Midterm Exam (25%)

• Final Exam (25%)

• Optional Research Project: Talk to the instructor for details. If you are interested in grad school and need a recommendation letter from the instructor, he would definitely be interested to know what you did on your research project.

• Final letter grades will be given based on the standard scale used in WM. Grades may be curved at the instructor's discretion.

Grade Distribution (524 students)

• Homework Assignments (35%, around 8)

• In-class/Blackboard Quizzes and Class participation (10%)

• In-class Midterm Exam (20%)

• Final Exam (20%)

• Required Research Project (15%): Schedule an appointment with the instructor for more details.

• Final letter grades will be given based on the standard scale used in WM. Grades may be curved at the instructor's discretion.

Exams

• We have two exams: mid-term and final exam. Dates for the exams are mentioned at the top of this page.

• All exams are closed textbook/slides. No electronic devices are allowed during exams. One A4-sized cheat sheet is allowed. Yes, you can use both sides of the page.

Classroom and Collaboration Policies

• You are expected to attend all lectures. You are responsible for all materials covered in lectures.

• You can use laptops only to take notes. Other electronic devices are not allowed to be used in the class.

• You can collaborate on the homework problems with one more student currently enrolled in the class. However, you must write up each problem solution (or MIPS code) by yourself without assistance. You must also identify your collaborator. If you did not work with anyone, you should write ”Collaborator: none.” It is a violation of this policy to submit a problem solution that you cannot orally explain to the instructor or TA.

• No collaboration whatsoever is allowed on exams and quizzes. However, you may you use your notes, lecture material, or textbook for quizzes.

Submissions, Grading, and Deadlines

• Homework Assignments and Reports should be submitted electronically (no hard copies) on Blackboard by 23:00 hrs on the due date in the PDF format. You may use MS-word or Latex to typeset your answers, however, final submission must be in the PDF format. Submission in any other format (including hand-written and then scanned PDFs) will not be graded and will receive zero.

• Some homeworks will have simulation-based component. Some homeworks may carry more points than others.

• Submission deadlines are hard. However, we do have a late/miss policy:

  • Late HWs are accepted with 20% penalty for each day they are late by.

  • If you miss an exam or quiz, you will get zero on that. The lowest score on the quizzes will be dropped. Exceptions will be handled case by case.

• If you have any grading-related questions, please contact the TA first. If issues are not resolved, then you can escalate the matter to the instructor. The instructor will make the final decision.

Simulators

• MARS: A MIPS Simulator. Download and Install V4.5, Aug. 2014 and JAVA SDK. As MARS is a Java program, it should run on any OS. Browse through the software and documentation to familiarize yourself with the software. Here is a good tutorial with lots of screenshots. Read the tutorial first before starting MARS. More documentation can be found here.

• SimpleScalar. It is an architecture-level simulator. Refer to these presentation slides and this user guide. Browse through the simulator-software and documentation to familiarize yourself with the environment.

Tentative Schedule (Will keep changing regularly)

Academic Integrity and Accommodations

• The university and department policies against academic dishonesty will be strictly enforced.

• Students are required to follow the Honor System of the College of William and Mary.

• It is the policy of The College of William and Mary to accommodate students with disabilities and qualifying diagnosed conditions in accordance with federal and state laws. Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a learning, psychiatric, physical, or chronic health diagnosis should contact Student Accessibility Services staff at 757-221-2509 or at sas@wm.edu to determine if accommodations are warranted and to obtain an official letter of accommodation. For more information, please click here.

Resources

• The Writing Resources Center, located on the first floor of Swem Library, is a free service provided to W&M students. Trained consultants offer individual assistance with writing, presentation, and other communication assignments across disciplines and at any stage, from generating ideas to polishing a final product. To make an appointment, visit the WRC webpage.

Acknowledgments

The lecture slides of this course are developed based on the original lecture slides from Mary. J. Irwin (Penn State), which were adapted from Computer Organization and Design, 5th Edition, Patterson & Hennessy (P&H), Morgan Kaufmann. The course staff also acknowledges the contributions of Mary. J. Irwin, Chita Das, Yuan Xie, N. Vijaykrishnan, and other instructors and TAs at Penn State, towards developing the course material over a period of time. Some of the collaboration rules are inspired by CSE 465 course at Penn State.