V22.0436 - Computer Architecture - Spring 1999

Instructor:

Textbook:

Lectures:

(pages for individual lectures will be added over the course of the semester;
to see what's coming, students can consult last year's lectures)

Assignments:

• are listed on the course schedule  (date shown is date assignment is given out)
• 8 assignments
• assignments #2, 5, and 6 will involve (high-level-language) programming: sample programs in class will be given in C, but assignments may be done in any general purpose language

(please ask if you want to use something other than C, C++, Java, or Pascal)
• programming assignments will involve simulation of circuits, starting with very simple circuits and leading (in assignment #6) to simulation of an entire very simple CPU
• assignment #4 will be a small MIPS assembly-language exercise; we will make available a simulator to check this program
• assignments #1, 3, 7, and 8 will be "pencil and paper" exercises
• penalty for late assignments:

no penalty for assignments submitted before noon on date due
5% penalty for assignments handed in later that day
10% penalty assignments handed in the next day
additional 10% for each weekday the assignment is late (maximum penalty, 90%)
(assignments can be submitted in my mailbox, either in Warren Weaver or at 715 Broadway)

Grading:

• 50% assignments

(assignment #6 is the largest, and will be counted more heavily than the others)
• 20% mid-term
• 30% final exam

Course goals:

practical: understand how the constant quest for higher performance is affecting architecture development

Web page: