CS465: Computer Systems Architecture (Spring 2015)

1 Course Basics

Meeting Time and Location:

• T 4:30-7:10pm, Robinson Hall A111

Instructor: Dr. Yutao Zhong

• Email: yzhong (at) gmu (dot) edu
• Office: Engineering Building 5337
• Schedule (Tentative)

Graduate TA: TBA

Course Outcomes:

• Be able to explain the organization of the classical von Neumann machine and its major functional components
• Be able to compare performance of simple system configurations and understand the performance implications of architectural choices
  
• Be able to show how instructions are represented at both the machine level and in the context of a symbolic assembler; be able to understand small MIPS programs and write MIPS assembly program segments
  
• Be able to use different formats to represent numerical data and convert numerical data from one format to another
  
• Be able to explain how an instruction is executed and the concept of datapaths and control
  
• Be able to explain basic instruction level parallelism using pipelining and the major hazards that may occur
  
• Be able to explain the effect of memory latency on running time; be able to describe the use of memory hierarchy to reduce the effective memory latency, in particular, the role of cache and virtual memory; be able to understand the principles of memory management
• Be able to explain the basic issues related to concurrent programming
  

Prerequisite:

C or better in CS 367.

Textbook:

• Required - Computer Organization and Design: the Hardware/Software Interface, 5th edition, John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson, Morgan Kaufmann, 2014.  Companion Material

Other Useful Resources:

• Piazza: Announcements, lecture slides, assignments, discussion. Contacts and office hours will be on Piazza too.
  
• Blackboard: Grades and assignments submitting.

2 Grading

Assessment

Letter grades will be assigned by subjectively identifying brackets in the numeric scores. In order to obtain an A, your final score should be at least 90. A total score of less than 60 will result in an F.

Homework

• Homework assignments will require some programming.
  
• Homework assignments must be done on an individual basis unless stated otherwise.
• Please ensure that the assignments are submitted on-time to Blackboard, before class begins (hard-copy and soft-copy). No late submissions.
• Catastrophic computer failure will not be cause for an extension. Use a backup service such as DropBox (or any cloud service), emailing yourself, storing to a USB drive, whatever it takes.
  

Exams

• Exams are closed book/notes unless specified otherwise by instructor.
  
• They will be entirely paper and pencil - no computers.
• All students must have their GMU identification available on testing days
  
• If you know in advance that you are unable to make an exam for a valid and unavoidable reason (such as a scheduled surgery, etc), you must notify the professor at least one week before the scheduled exam date to make arrangements for a make-up, and bring documentation with you when you take the make-up.
  
• If you miss an exam due to a university-accepted excused absence (such as an illness or car accident the day and time of the exam), you must notify your professor within 24 hours of your absence to make arrangements for a makeup, and bring approved documentation with you when you take the make-up exam. Failure to follow either of these policies will result in a zero. We may also elect to allow the final exam to count the extra amount to give you a sort of do-over.
• The final will not be given early. You are starting the course with knowledge of the schedule (see GMU's Final Exam Calendar for the latest schedule, updated as weather events require).
  

Attendance

• Attendance is not compulsory but highly recommended for doing well in the class.
  
• In-class exercises require classroom attendance and 5% grade is devoted to it.
  

Discussion board

• Students are encouraged to use the discussion board, Piazza, to ask and answer questions.  
• No sharing answers to homework assignments on the discussion board. 
  
• Under no circumstances should code be posted publicly to the discussion board. Students can post questions and code privately, although the instructor reserves the right to make any post public, so that other students can see the responses.

Other

• There will be no make-up or extra-credit assignments at the end of the semester; your grade should be a measure of your semester-long progress.
  
• Contesting of grades on any/all submissions must be requested within one week of the item's return. No grade changes will be considered subsequent to that deadline, or after the final exam meeting.
• IN (Incomplete) policy as indicated in the catalog will be strictly adhered to. You must provide the necessary back-up documentation (e.g. medical certificate) for your application to be considered favorably. In all circumstances, the written request, with all the back up documentation, must be received before the final exam week.

3 Honor Code

All students are expected to abide by the GMU Honor Code. This policy is rigorously enforced. All class-related assignments are considered individual efforts unless explicitly expressed otherwise (in writing). Cheating on any assignment will be prosecuted and result in a notification of the Honor Committee as outlined in the GMU Honor Code. Sharing, collaboration, or looking at any code or algorithm related to programming assignments that is not your own is considered cheating.

The computer science department has an additional, more restrictive CS Honor Code that you are also subject to. Make sure you read and familiarize yourself with these rules. We use automated software to flag suspicious cases, and then review them by hand to find the cases that must be submitted to the Office of Academic Integrity. The penalty for cheating will always be far worse than a zero grade, to ensure it's not worth taking the chance. Confirmed cases of cheating almost always translate into course failure.

4 Learning Disabilities

Students with a learning disability or other condition (documented with GMU's Office of Disability Services) that may impact academic performance should speak with the professor ASAP to discuss appropriate accommodations.