• DESCRIPTION
• COURSE OUTCOMES
• GRADING POLICY
• SYLLABUS
• READINGS
• IMPORTANT DATES
• IMPORTANT RULES AND POLICIES

DESCRIPTION :

CS465 is a 3-credit course with grade of C or better in CS 367 (Computer Systems and Programming) as prerequisite. This course provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts in computer architecture. Topics include: basic system components, performance measurements, instructions and their representation, number representation, implementation of arithmetic operations, processor organization, pipelining, and memory hierarchy.

Back to the to the top

COURSE OUTCOMES:

As an outcome of taking this class, a student will be able to

• Explain the organization of the classical von Neumann machine and its major functional components
• Compare performance of simple system configurations and understand the performance implications of architectural choices
• 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
• Use different formats to represent numerical data and convert numerical data from one format to another
• Explain how an instruction is executed and the concept of datapaths and control
• Explain basic instruction level parallelism using pipelining and the major hazards that may occur
• 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

Back to the top

GRADING POLICY:

Grades are based on homework assigments (HA), a midterm (MT), a final exam (FE), class participation (CP), and surprise quizzes (SQ). SQ is computed as the average of all surprise quizzes and corresponds to 5 bonus points. Grades will be numerical on the scale 0-100. Your final numerical grade, G, is computed as:
G = 0.50 * HA + 0.20 * MT + 0.25 * FE + 0.05 * CP + 0.05 * SQ

The following table is used to convert your numerical grade G to a letter grade:

G	letter grade
[98,100]	A+
[93,97)	A
[88,93)	A-
[84,88)	B+
[80,84)	B
[76,80)	B-
[72,76)	C+
[68,72)	C
[64,68)	C-
< 64	F

There is no curving. No extra credit assignments will be given after the semester is over to increase grades.

Back to the top

SYLLABUS:

Introduction	Chapter 1
Performance	Chapter 1
Instruction Set Architecture	Chapter 2
Arithmetic	Chapter 3
Processor	Chapter 4
Memory Hierarchy Design	Chapter 5

Back to the top

READINGS:

Required readings:

1. Computer Organization and Design: the Hardware/Software Interface, 5th edition, John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson, Morgan Kaufmann, 2014.
2. Slides.

1. Articles from IEEE Computer.

IMPORTANT DATES:

First Day of Classes	January 19, 2016.
Spring break (university closed; no classes)	March 8, 2016.
Midterm	March 15, 2016.
Last day of classes	May 3, 2016.
Final Exam	TBA

Back to the top

IMPORTANT RULES AND POLICIES:

No collaboration is allowed among students in any of the individual assignments and exams.
No open laptops or tablets are allowed in class. Studies have shown that students who use laptops in class, even for note taking, learn less than those that do not use laptops. Cell-phones should be muted or turned off. Students are not allowed to text or use their cell phones in class.
Please ensure that the assignments are submitted on-time, before class begins (hard-copy). No late submissions.
There will be no make up exams.
Please visit the Office of Academic Integrity's Web page and read Mason's Honor Code.
Please arrive in class on time as a courtesy to the instructor and to your colleagues.

Back to the top