CSE 240A -- Principles of Computer Architecture

• Instructor: Michael Taylor
• Office: EBU 3B 4110
• Email:


• Class Meetings:
• Place: WLH 2207
• Time: Tu Th 11:00a-12:20p


• Office Hours:
• Place: EBU 3B 4110
• Time: Tu 10:15-11:00a


• TA: Chengmo Yang
• Email:
• Office Hours:
  • EBU3b 2142
  • M 4-5pm (by appointment if there is no assignment due that week)
  • W 4-4:45pm


• Course Text:
• Hennessy & Patterson,
  "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach",
  4th Edition, Morgan Kaufmann

3/11/09 - Solutions for homework 3 has been posted on the assignment page. The testing results of your projects have also been posted there. Good luck for your final!

2/26/09 - The deadline for Homework 3 has been extended to Tuesday (March 10) at 11am. The deadline for project has only been extended by 6 hours. Now it is due on Thursday (March 5) at 5pm. We need several days to run all your prefetcher to decide the winner.

2/24/09 - Solutions for midterm have been posted here! You have one week to ask for a regrade.

2/19/09 - Two papers, one for MIPS R10000 and one for ALPHA 21264 have been posted on the the schedule page.

2/12/09 - The details for project have been posted here! It is due on Thursday, March 5 at Noon. Submission is via e-mail to Chengmo. If you have any questions (no coding, please), contact Chengmo.

2/12/09 - Slides from lectures 7, 10, and 12 have been posted on the schedule page.

2/10/09 - Midterm is scheduled to be on next Tuesday (Feb. 17) in class. No practice midterm will be posted. However, the problems on the exam will be of the same style as your two homeworks. All reading and lecture material up to Tuesday, Feb 10 will be covered.

2/10/09 - Solutions for HW 2 have been posted on the assignment page.

2/09/09 - Homework 2 is scheduled to be handed back on Tuesday (Feb. 10) after lecture. You can also pick it up at Chengmo's office hour.

1/28/09 - Homework 1 is scheduled to be handed back on Thursday (Jan. 29) after lecture. You can also pick it up at Chengmo's office hour.

1/28/09 - Solutions for HW 1 have been posted on the assignment page. Please note that the solutions are only accessible from within the UCSD network. If you are off campus, you can access them using the UCSD Web Proxy. Information on setting up the proxy can be found here.

1/27/09 - Homework 2 has been posted on the assignment page. It will be due next Tuesday (Feb. 3) at 11am. You can turn it in either in person before class or by putting it in Chengmo's mailbox in the grad student mailroom.

1/24/09 - Slides from lectures 3, 4, 5, and 6 have been posted on the schedule page.

1/20/09 - There is a typo in (Part C) of Q3 in Homework 1. It has been fixed. Please get the latested version of HW1.

1/14/09 - Homework 1 has been posted on the assignments page. It is due Thursday, January 22 at 11am. Make sure you read the homework policies.

1/8/09 - Slides for lectures 1 and 2 have been posted and are available on the schedule page. Please note that all lecture slides might not be posted so you are responsible for being at class and taking notes.

1/5/09 - Chengmo's office hour on Wednesday is regular, yet the one on Monday is by appointment if no assignment is due on that week.

1/5/09 - If you would like to contact Michael or Chengmo by e-mail, please include the phrase "CSE240A" in the subject so that your e-mail is not eaten by spam filters.

1/5/09 - The course website is now up and functional. Please check here regularly for announcements.