Computer Organization and Architecture

CSCI 330

 

 

Lecturer:                  Doug L. Hoffman, dohoff@acxiom.com (daytime) hoffman@dlhoffman.com.

                 Office hours 8:50 – 9:50 PM on Wednesdays in the class room by apointment.

 

 

Description

 

This course focuses on the techniques of quantitative analysis and evaluation of modern computing systems, such as the selection of appropriate benchmarks to reveal and compare the performance of alternative design choices in system design. The emphasis is on the major component subsystems of high performance computers: pipelining, instruction level parallelism, memory hierarchies, input/output, and network-oriented interconnections.

 

Course Grading

 

Homework and
Class participation 50% 		8 weekly assignments, 10 pts each
Participation 20pts.
Exams 50% Quizzes, 2 x 10pts
Mid-term, 30pts
Final, 50pts

 

 

Scheduled Topics by Week

 

 

3/25 – 3/29                               Computer Abstractions and Technology.

 

 

4/1 – 4/5                               The Role of Performance.

 

 

4/8 – 4/12                               Instructions and Machine Language.

                                  Quiz 1.

 

4/15– 4/19                               The Central Processing Unit.

 

 

4/22 – 4/26                               Pipelining and Performance Enhancement.

                                          Mid-term.

 

4/29 – 5/3                               The Memory Hierarchy.

                            

 

5/6 –5/10                               Peripheral Devices and I/O.

                                Quiz 2.

 

 5/13 – 5/17                               Multiprocessors.

 

5/20 – 5/24                               Review and Open Topics.

 

5/22 – 5/26                               Final Exams.