ECS 154B Computer Architecture

Announcements

Lab 3 is now available and is due Wednesday, March 11th.

Make sure to read the class newsgroup (ucd.class.ecs154b) everyday for announcements! Use the discussion newsgroup for questions (ucd.class.ecs154b.d).

Lecture: T/Th 12:10-1:30p Olson 223
Discussion: F 11:00-11:50a Olson 223
Units: 4
Instructor: Prof. Fred Chong office hours: Tue 3-6; Eng II 3031
TA: Raja Mukhopadhyay office hours: MW 2-4
Text: Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface, by Hennessey and Patterson, 1998.

Grading

  • 3 Labs 40%
  • 2 In-class exams 30%
  • Final 25%
  • Class Participation and Discretionary 5%

    Lectures

  • Lecture 1 (Thu 1/8/98): Introduction
    Reading for next lecture: All of Ch. 1, pay particular attention to "Fallacies and Pitfalls".
  • Discussion 1 (Fri 1/9/98): Digital Design Review
  • Lecture 2 (Tue 1/13/98): Basic Datapath and Control
    Reading for next lecture: 5.1-5.3
    Lab 1 Part 1 out -- due Wednesday, January 21st.
  • Lecture 3 (Thu 1/15/98): Microprogramming -- MIC-1 and MAC-1
    Reading for next lecture: 5.4-5.10
    References:
    Prof. Matloff's notes on the MIC-1/MAC-1.
    Tanenbaum, "Structured Computer Organization", 3rd edition, 1990.
  • Discussion 3 (Fri 1/16/98): Vertical Microprogramming -- MIC-2
  • Lecture 4 (Tue 1/20/98): More Microprogramming and Pipelining
    Reading for next lecture: 6.1-6.3
    Lab 1 Part 2 out -- due Wednesday, January 28th.
  • Lecture 5 (Thu 1/22/98): Hazards and Exceptions
    Reading for next lecture: 6.4-6.6
  • Discussion 4 (Fri 1/23/98): Feedback Pipes
  • Lecture 6 (Tue 1/27/98): Dynamic Instruction Scheduling
    Reading for next lecture : 6.7-6.12
  • Lecture 7 (Thu 1/29/98): Performance Metrics
    Reading for next lecture : 2.1-2.3
  • Discussion 5 (Fri 1/30/98): Exam Review
    Old exams from previous classes and other faculty are available, but are not necessarily representative of the exam. Here is a review sheet specific to exam 1.

  • Exam 1 (Tue 2/3/98) In-class
    Reading for next lecture : 2.4-2.10
    Lab 2 out -- due Monday, February 23rd at noon.
  • Lecture 8 (Thurs 2/5/98): Caches
    Reading for next lecture : 7.1-7.2
  • Discussion 6 (Fri 2/6/98): Dynamic Scheduling: Scoreboarding
  • Lecture 9 (Tue 2/10/97): More Caches
    Reading for next lecture : 7.3
  • Lecture 10 (Thu 2/12/97): Virtual Memory
    Reading for next lecture : 7.4-7.7
  • Discussion 7 (Fri 2/13/98): Exam 1 Recap and Course Feedback
    Exam 1 solutions are available.
  • Lecture 11 (Tue 2/17/97): Memory System Performance
    Reading for next lecture : 9.1-9.4
  • Lecture 12 (Thu 2/19/97): Intro to Parallel Machines
    Reading for next lecture : 9.5-9.6
  • Discussion 8 (Fri 2/20/98): Exam Review
    Old exams from previous classes and other faculty are available, but are not necessarily representative of the exam. Problems 1-4 in S97II.ps and Pages 6-8 in S97I.ps are applicable. Here is a review sheet specific to exam 2.

  • Lecture 13 (Tue 2/24/97): MIMD architectures
  • Exam 2 (Thu 2/26/98) In-class
    Lab 3 out -- due Wednesday, March 11th.
  • Discussion 9 (Fri 2/27/98): Cache Coherency
  • Lecture 14 (Tue 3/3/97): Future Trends in Parallel Machines
    Reading for next lecture : 9.7-9.10
  • Lecture 15 (Thu 3/5/97): Introduction to I/O
    Reading for next lecture : 8.1-8.3
  • Discussion 10 (Fri 3/6/98): Exam 2 Recap
  • Lecture 16 (Tue 3/10/97): Buses
    Reading for next lecture : 8.4-8.6
  • Lecture 17 (Thu 3/12/97): I/O Systems
    Reading for next lecture : 8.7-8.10
  • Discussion 11 (Fri 3/13/98): I/O Case Study
  • Lecture 18 (Tue 3/17/97): Final Review
    Here is a review sheet for the final.
  • Final (Fri 3/20/98) 4-6 pm

    MAX PLUS Documentation

  • Introduction and Section 1: MAX+PLUS II Installation
  • Section 2: MAX+PLUS II - A Perspective
  • Section 3: MAX+PLUS II Tutorial
  • Appendices

    Also available at the Altera site.

    Other Altera information available from 154A F97, which includes tutorials, student version of the software for your PC, and bug workarounds.

    Acknowledgements: The materials in the course are heavily based upon those developed by Norman Matloff. Thanks also to Kent Wilken.
    Last updated February 6, 1998
    chong@cs.ucdavis.edu