GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

CS 365 - COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
Fall 2003

Mondays 4:30 pm – 7:10 pm

ST-II Room 9

 

Professor Robert Simon
simon@cs.gmu.edu
703-993-4098

Description

This course provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts in computer architecture.

Prerequisites

Assembly Language Programming (CS 265) and Digital Electronics (ECE 301). Students not satisfying the prerequisites will be dropped from the class.

Readings

The textbook for this class is Computer Organization & Design: The Hardware Software Interface by D. Patterson and J. Hennessy (2nd Edition, Morgan Kaufmann, 1997). Another text by the same authors Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach (Morgan Kaufmann, 1996) can be used as a reference text for advanced topics.

Course Outline and link to slides

(TENTATIVE, SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

 

 

Week 1:

Introduction (Ch. 1); Instructions (Ch 3)   

 Week 2:

Instructions (Ch 3)

Week 3:

Instructions (Ch 3);

Week 4:

Performance (Ch 2);

Week 5:

Performance (Ch 2); Arithmetic (Ch. 4)

Week 6:

Arithmetic (Ch 4);

Week 7:

Arithmetic (Ch 4) ; Processor (Ch 5)

Week 8:

Processor (Ch 5)

Week 9:

Processor (Ch 5); 

Week 10:

Processor (Ch 5); Memory (Ch 7)

Week 11:

Memory (Ch. 7);

Week 12:

 I/O (Ch 8)

Week 13:

I/O (Ch. 8);

Week 14:

Pipelining (Ch. 6)

Week 15:

Review

Grading (TENTATIVE, SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

The grade for the course will be based on the following components: (i) Assignments (30%) (ii) Occasional quizzes and class participation (10%) (iii) Mid-term exam (30%) (iv) Final exam (30%) All exams will be closed book. The final exam will be comprehensive, i.e., it will cover the entire course.

In order to obtain an A, your final score should be at least 90%. A score below 50% will result in an F.

Homework Assignments

There will be homework assigned regularly. At least two of the assignments will require 2-3 weeks of effort and will carry more weight than other assigned homework. All assignments have to be done individually by each student.

You are expected to abide by the University's honor code; specifically, collaboration among students on homework assignments is considered unacceptable. Any violation of the honor code will result in an F for the class and a trip in front of the honor court. 

Exam Schedule (TBD)

Office Hours

Weds. 2-4 pm in my office (Room 423, S&T II)

TA

TBA

Class Home Page

All handouts and other course material will be available at URLhttp://www.cs.gmu.edu/~simon/cs365-simon.html

Computer Accounts

If you're planning to use the computers on campus for doing your projects, please obtain an IT&E labs account or a Mason Cluster account.