CSE 240A -- Principles in Computer Architecture

Announcements:

Lecture Slides

Homework and Project Assignments

Basic Course Information:

• Instructor: Dean Tullsen
• CSE 3216
• tullsen at cs dot ucsd dot edu
• 534-6181
• office hours: M 2, W 3, and by appt
• TA: Matt DeVuyst
• mdevuyst+cse240a at cs dot ucsd dot edu
• office hours, TuTh 9:30-11 am, or by appt
• office hours location, CSE B240A
• Meeting times and place:
• CSE 2154
• lecture: Tu Th 2:00-3:20
• Course textbook
• Hennessy & Patterson, "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach", Fourth Edition, Morgan Kaufmann
• Other recommended reading
• WWW Computer Architecture Home Page
• a comprehensive guide to research and general information on computer architecture available on the web.
• Assignments will be of two types:
• traditional homeworks, e.g., problems from the book, typically with 1-week notice.
• small projects, typically involving simulation and analysis tools
• The class mailing list will be used for announcements, etc. All students will be held responsible for announcements and information that go out over the class mailing list. Make sure you are on it. Go here to subscribe to the list. If you need to send mail to the list, it is cse240a at cs.ucsd.edu.

I. Introduction

II. Computer System Performance

III. Instruction Set Architecture

IV. Pipelining

V. Instruction-Level Parallelism

VI. The Memory/Cache Hierarchy

VII. Parallel Machines

• The grade for 240 will be based on homeworks, projects, one midterm, and a final, as follows (this is subject to change, but only with plenty of notice):
• homeworks and projects: 30%
• midterm: 25%
• final: 45%
• subjective influences like class participation will have an impact in the margins.
• The final will be inclusive of all course material.
• Late assignments are not encouraged. Late assignments will receive partial credit -- they may or may not be graded. We will make every effort to return assignments to you in a timely manner -- limiting your ability to turn things in late is, unfortunately, critical to that goal.
• You have the right of appeal for grading on all tests; however, an appeal (except for scoring errors) covers the entire test, and may result in an unfavorable judgment on another problem (but not typically). You have one week from the time the midterms are returned to make appeals, including addition errors on your score. Check it over carefully when you get it.
• There is no appeal on homeworks, except for addition errors. No single problem will have a significant impact on your grade.

• I hope cheating isn't an issue for a graduate class. If it is, severe consequences will result.