| Course Description: | This course covers the design of modern processors and systems, including systems with both general processors (i.e., CPUs) and specialize processors (e.g., GPUs). The course aims at providing a solid understanding of Architectural techniques used to ensure the correct executeion of programs and to optimize performance. Topics of this course include: Instruct Set Architecture (ISA), Computer Arithmetic, Instruction Level Parallelism (pipelining and super-scalar), Speculative Executions (branch prediction and memory disambiguation), Memory hierarchy (TLB, caches and DRAM) and modern parallel processors (GPUs and ASICs).
Processors and memory constitue the lowest layer of computer systesms. Therefore, understanding the design of processors and memory is crucial for writing efficient programs and ensuring system security. About three fourth of this course will focus on the design of processors and memory systems. The find fourth of the course will focus on challenges facing today's computer hardware industry and current solutions to these challenges (i.e., parallel processors). | |
| Instructor: | Wei Wang, wei.wang@utsa.edu | |
| Office: | NPB 3.342 | |
| Online Materials: | Will be posted on Canvas. | |
| Office Hours: | Monday 1pm to 2pm. Tuesday 2pm to 4pm. Online (link will be post on Canvas), and by appointment. Please email me before coming to office hours. For all e-mail contact, always include "CS3853" in the subject line. | |
| Teaching Assistants (greader): | TBD |
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| TA Office Hours: | N/A, please contact the TA by email | |
| Goals and Schedule: | Please follow this link. | |
| Prerequisites: | CS 3423 (System Programming) and CS 3843 (Computer Organization) are required. You should be able to write C or Python programs. |
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| Texts (both optional): |
"Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach", 5th edition, John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson.
"Computer Organization and Design MIPS Edition: The Hardware/Software Interface", 5th edition, by David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy There are aslo many online resources available. I will often point out websites and I will include the URL on the class site. |
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| Grading: | There will be two midterm exams (25%), a final exam (25%), a
project and report (15%), pop quizzes and class
participation (5%), as about 5 written assignments (30%) and extra point opportunities (3%). Keep all graded material to provide evidence of grades in case there is an error in transcription. Attendance in class may be noted and negatively affect your class participation grade. Excessive unexcused absences from class is grounds for receiving a failing grade. These tentative percentages are subject to change if circumstances warrant. Please note: the assignments may not be equally weighted. Weights are assigned according to level of difficulty and the number of assignments that the class completes. |
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| Course Rules: | You are fully responsible for all material presented in class. There may be an
occasional unannounced quiz. Exams and due dates are scheduled in
advance. A grade of zero will be recorded for missed exams and late
assignments unless prior arrangements are made. Assignments turned in
after the due date, but within a week from the due date are penalized 10%.
Assignments that are more than one week late will not be accepted.
No makeup exams will be given except for university excused absences (e.g., a religious
holy day, an official university function, military service, medical emergency, extenuating
circumstances). It is the student's responsibility to notify his or her instructors
directly in advance or as soon as possible thereafter and provide reasonable documentation.
You are free to develop assignments on any platform/OS you wish. However, you are responsible for porting your code to the platform the class is using and ensuring that it runs correctly. Our reference system is the CS department fox servers. |
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| Cheating: | Students can discuss programs and assignments in general and to help one another find bugs in existing programs. But copying other student's assignment or using another's code or writing code for someone else is cheating and a violation of the university's Honor Code. This includes consulting solutions to assignments from previous years or tests from previous years. Keep listings to provide evidence of creative development. | |
| Regarding Recitations: |
CS 3341 (Alg Recit), CS 3731 (OS Recit), and CS 3851 (Arch Recit) are removed from the
catalog as of Fall 2018. Thus, CS 3343 (Alg), CS 3733 (OS), and CS 3853 (Arch) will be
taught without recitations. However, if you are under old catalog and need credits for the
removed recitations, then you are allowed to take an UD (upper division) CS or Math
elective to substitute all three recitations. Or, if you need just one or two credit hours,
then you can take one or two of the 1-credit independent studies designated to substitute
the missing recitations. Please contact your academic advisor for more details. Note that
the 1-credit independent studies will not be treated as part of the regular courses even
though they might cover related topics. As such, they are evaluated and graded
independently.
For Computer Architecture, the corresponding Independent Study course is CS4911.003. But please consult with your undergraduate adviser to ensure you are selecting the correct course. |
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| Accommodations: | If you may need special consideration because of a disability, please discuss your situation with me at the very beginning of the course. If you are registered with Disability Services and anticipate having your exams administered in a manner that varies from what other students will experience, please notify me the special testing circumstances that you might require as soon as possible (and before the first exam). It is essential that there be an agreement on a reasonable and satisfactory accommodation, and not one that is excessively burdensome to the conduct of the course or unfair to the other students. Information about Disability Services is available in the UTSA Information Bulletin. As a general rule, students are only eligible for special treatment or consideration if they are registered with Disability Services and I am instructed by that office as to the special treatment or consideration that is to be allowed. Consult: http://utsa.edu/disability/ | |
| Additional Academic Support: | I encourage you to utilize the academic support services available to you through the Tomas Rivera Center (TRC) to assist you with building study skills and tutoring in course content. These services are available at no additional cost to you. The TRC has several locations at the Main Campus and is also located at the Downtown Campus. For more information, visit the web site at www.utsa.edu/trcss or call (210) 458-4694 on the Main Campus and (210) 458-2838 on the Downtown Campus. | |
| Exclusion Zone: |
Pursuant to HOP 9.48, Carrying of Concealed Handguns on Campus, my private office (NPB 3.210) is a designated exclusion zone. As set out in Section 30.06, Penal Code (trespass by license holder with a concealed handgun), a person licensed to carry a Concealed Handgun under Subchapter H, Chapter 411 Government Code (handgun licensing law), may not enter this property/office with a concealed handgun. De conformidad con HOP 9.48, Llevar Armas de Fuego Encubiertas en el Campus, mi oficina privada (NPB 3.210) es una zona designada de exclusión. Conforme a la sección 30.06 del código penal (trespasar portando armas de fuego) personas con licencia bajo del sub-capitulo H, capitulo 411, codigo de gobierno (ley de portar armas), no deben entrar a esta propiedad portando un arma de fuego. |
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| Video and Audio Recording: | The instructor may record meetings of this course. Any recordings will be available to all students registered for this class as they are intended to supplement the classroom experience. Students are expected to follow appropriate University policies and maintain the security of passwords used to access recorded lectures. Unless Student Disability Services has approved the student to record the instruction, students are expressly prohibited from recording any part of this course. Recordings may not be published, reproduced, or shared with those not in the class, or uploaded to other online environments except to implement an approved Student Disability Service accommodation. If the instructor or a UTSA office plans any other uses for the recordings, consent of the students identifiable in the recordings is required prior to such use unless an exception is allowed by law. For more information on your privacy and class recordings, review Student Privacy (FERPA) in Virtual Classrooms and Other Educational Recordings and the Guide to Secure Video Conferencing Tools. |