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2020　Topics in Computer Architecture (School of Engineering)

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Academic unit or major
School of Engineering
Instructor(s)
Wimer Shmuel 
Class Format
Lecture     
Media-enhanced courses
Day/Period(Room No.)
Fri7-8(Zoom)  
Group
-
Course number
XEG.S406
Credits
1
Academic year
2020
Offered quarter
4Q
Syllabus updated
2020/9/18
Lecture notes updated
2021/2/5
Language used
English
Access Index

Course description and aims

The course will focus on the basic and essential components of computing systems. From their memory and storage, through instruction-level parallelism, up to multi-processing and multi-threading. It will provide the students with a knowledge of the "big picture" of computer systems, their capabilities and limitations, together with design practice based on tradeoffs and constraints.

Student learning outcomes

The outcome of this course is in an understanding and acquisition for the basic and essential components of computing systems.

Keywords

MIPS, Instruction Set Architecture, Operating System, Memory, Pipelining, Speculation, Multi-threading, Multi Processors

Competencies that will be developed

✔ Specialist skills Intercultural skills Communication skills Critical thinking skills Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Frontal lectures in the classroom. There will home assignments of solving problems (though not checked, solutions will be published) and reading articles.

Course schedule/Required learning

  Course schedule Required learning
Class 1 Overview MIPS overview, Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), pipelining, hazards, interaction with the Operating System (OS).
Class 2 Memory Memory hierarchy, technology and optimization, cache design.
Class 3 Virtual Memory Virtual Memory (VM).
Class 4 Parallelism, Branch Instruction-level parallelism, branch prediction.
Class 5 Pipeline Pipeline extensions, static and dynamic scheduling.
Class 6 Speculation Speculation, multiple-issue.
Class 7 Multi-threading Multi-threading.
Class 8 Multi processors Multi processors, symmetric shared-memory architecture, distributed memory.

Out-of-Class Study Time (Preparation and Review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

None

Reference books, course materials, etc.

J. L. Hennessy and D. A. Patterson, Computer Architecture, 4nd Edition, Morgan Kaufmann.

Assessment criteria and methods

Learning achievement is evaluated by Final exam: 100%;

Related courses

  • XEG.S404 ： Graph Theory with Engineering Application
  • XEG.S607 ： Advanced Topics in Computer Architecture (School of Engineering)

Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)

Knowledge of Digital Logic Systems, Logic Design, and Computers Introduction

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