CSE 240A -- Principles in Computer Architecture
Fall 2019
Instructor: Dean Tullsen
Basic Course Information:
Instructor: Dean Tullsen
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CSE 3216
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tullsen at cs dot ucsd dot edu
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534-6181
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office hours: M 3-4, W 11-12, or by appt
TA: Prannoy Pilligundla
- ppilligu at eng dot ucsd dot edu
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office hours M 4-5 (CSE B215), W 9:30-10:30 (CSE B240A)
TA: Srinithya Nagiri
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snagiri at eng dot ucsd dot edu
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office hours M 12-1 (CSE B215), T 9-10 (CSE B260A)
- office hours location, CSE B215
Meeting times and place:
- Warren Lecture Hall 2204
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lecture: Tu Th 2:00 - 3:20 p.m.
Course textbook
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Hennessy & Patterson, "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach",
Sixth Edition, Morgan Kaufmann
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We'll also be reading some research papers as well as referencing some books from the outstanding
series Synthesis Lectures on Computer Architecture. Those books will be free to access while you are on the UCSD domain. If you're interested in computer architecture, you should be browsing these books.
Other background reading
- Patterson & Hennessy, "Computer Organizatin and Design: The
Hardware/Software Interface" gives a lower-level treatment of the material
(more from the design standpoint). This represents the assumed
background/prerequisite for this class.
Let me emphasize that the prerequisite material for this course is an undergraduate class that covered ISA design, pipelining, caches, etc. If you do not have the prerequisites, you should not be in this class.
Assignments will be of three types:
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traditional homeworks, e.g., problems from the book, typically with 1-week
notice.
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small projects, typically involving simulation and analysis tools
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reading summaries for papers (I will try to give one week notice on reading assignments. History indicates I don't always succeed.)
We will be using some combination of Piazza and Canvas for lecture slides,
homework assignments,
question and answer, announcements, etc. We'll give directions on how to
sign up.
Course Outline:
I. Introduction
II. Computer System Performance
III. Instruction Set Architecture
IV. Pipelining
V. The Memory/Cache Hierarchy
VI. Instruction-Level Parallelism
VII. Parallel Machines
Grading Information:
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The grade for 240 will be based on homeworks, projects, one midterm, and a final,
as follows (this is subject to change, based on the number of projects):
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pretest: 5%
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homeworks (no more than 20% total), projects, reading summaries: 30%
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midterm: 25%
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final: 40%
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subjective influences like class participation will have an impact in the
margins.
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The final will be inclusive of all course material.
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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.
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You have the right of appeal for grading on all tests. 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.
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There is no appeal on homeworks, except for addition errors. No single
problem will have a significant impact on your grade.
Integrity:
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I expect we have the highest standards of integrity in a graduate class.
However, we will check aggressively for cheating, including
copying off of other people
or from online resources, etc. If cheating is found, of any kind, severe consequences
will result.
