Description

This course focuses on the architecture and organization of modern computing systems, including the function and design of the various components that make up a computer. Emphasis will be placed on the major component subsystems of high performance computers: pipelining, instruction level parallelism, memory hierarchies, input/output, and network-oriented interconnections.

Course Grading

Homework 50% - ~10 assignments, 10 pts each

Participation 10pts.

Exams 50% - Quizzes 2 x 10pts

Mid-term 30pts

Final 50pts

Scheduled Topics by Week

1/19 – 1/21 Introduction and historical overview (chapter 1).

1/24 – 2/4 Data representation: integers, floating point, and character codes (chapter 2).

2/7 – 2/18 Basic digital logic and circuitry (chapter 3).

Quiz 1.

2/21– 3/4 Basic computer organization: fundamental components and functions (chapter 4).

3/7 – 3/11 Instruction set architecture (chapter 5).

Mid-term (Friday 3/11).

3/14 – 3/18 Spring Break.

3/21 – 4/1 The Memory Hierarchy (chapter 6).

4/4 –4/8 Peripheral Devices and I/O (chapter 7).

Quiz 2.

4/11 – 4/15 Alternative Architectures (chapter 9).

4/18 – 4/22 Performance analysis (chapter 10).

4/25 – 4/29 Networking (chapter 11).

5/2 Summary and review.

5/5 Final Exam, 8:30 – 11:30