CS352 - Computer Systems Architecture (Spring 2007)

Course:

Computer Sciences 352: Computer Systems Architecture
Unique Number: 55015
MW 9:00-10:15 am
Geology 2.102

Professor:

Doug Burger
Office: ACES 3.432
Phone: 471-9795
E-mail: dburger@cs.utexas.edu
Office Hours: W 1:30-2:30 pm, TH 1-2 pm

Teaching Assistant:

Dong Li
Office hours: Tue 2 - 3 PM and Thu 2:30-3:30PM

TA office: ESB 229 Desk #2
E-mail: dongli@cs.utexas.edu
Phone: 232-7451

Administrative Assistant:

Gem Naivar
Office: ACES 3.422
Phone: 232-7460
E-mail: gem@cs.utexas.edu

Class Information:

Blackboard
Personal course page

Prerequisites:

The following courses, with a grade of at least C: CS 310 OR 310H, 336 OR 336H, EE 316, AND M 408D OR 408M

Grading:

  • Assignments: 25%

  • Two midterm exams: 15% each

  • Final project: 20%

  • Final exam: 25%

Course Textbook:

Patterson & Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design, The Hardware/Software Interface, Morgan Kaufmann, 3rd Edition.

Supplemental (optional): Hennessy & Patterson, Computer Architecture A Quantitative Approach , 3rd Edition.

Course Objectives:

In this course, you will learn about the basic principles and current practices of computer architectures and organizations. At the end of this course, you will understand how computers are organized and what influences have determined the architectures of processors, memory systems, and input/output systems. You will learn how to evaluate and improve computer system performance through analysis and computer simulation. You will also learn the fundamentals of pipelining, caches, and virtual memory.

Homework policy:

There will be assignments assigned roughly every week to ten days. These assignments are due at the beginning of class.

Late policy: Each student has three late days that they can use during the semester with no penalty (one assignment three days late, or three assignments one day late, etcetera). An assignment is late if it is not turned in at the beginning of class on the day in which it is due. It is one day late until 5pm of the day after it is due, two days late from then until 5pm of the second day, and three days late from then until 5pm of third day. Once you have exhausted your late account, no late assignments will be accepted. You are responsible for turning in your Gem Naivar in ACES 3.422. The departmental homework drop box will not be used.

Collaboration policy: You are encouraged to discuss homework problems with your classmates. However, everyone must write up their own solution sets. Furthermore, any collaboration must be acknowledged by writing the names of your collaborators on the front page of the assignment. Copied assignments or code, or unacknowledged collaboration will be considered academic misconduct, an ethical breach of trust, and I will deal with such cases harshly. I will follow the university policy (see Dean of Students' policies on academic integrity) strictly.

Project:

There will be a medium-size project assigned for the last month of the semester. The project will count as 20% of your grade, and will be a significant amount of work (i.e., start early!) For collaboration, the same rule applies as for the homework. You are welcome to discuss the project with your peers, but all of the design, code, and results should be entirely your own.

Exams:

For each quiz and exam, you may bring a non-programmable calculator and a single 8.5x11 sheet of handwritten notes (yes, you may use both sides). In class exams will be 75 minutes in duration according to the schedule shown below. Please note that the final exam is cumulative, and there will be no make-up exams.

  • Midterm #1: Monday, February 28, in class

  • Midterm #2: Monday, April 16, in class

  • Final exam: Monday, May 14, 2-5pm

Responsibilities:

  • You are responsible for completing assigned readings prior to lecture, and attending lecture.

  • I expect everyone in the class to arrive on time for lectures, and turn your cell phones off. I enforce a no-laptop policy in class.

  • You are responsible for all material posted on Blackboard. Please check it regularly.

  • You are responsible for obtaining a departmental Unix account, and learning the Unix operating system sufficiently well to meet the demands of the course. You can find on-line unix information on the UTCS computer services pages.

  • You are responsible for all material presented in lecture, even if it does not appear on lecture slides or lecture notes.

  • You are responsible for following the course policies on cooperation and collaboration, as well as protecting your work from unauthorized copying by others.

Other Info:

The programming assignments will require use of the Department of Computer Sciences Unix computing resources. All CS students who meet the prerequisites for CS352H are eligible for a CS departmental undergraduate Unix account. Important links: