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CS 2410: Graduate Computer Architecture CRN 11209 (CS 2410): Monday & Wednesday, 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM, SENSQ 5313
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12/2: Here is project 3. It is due by December 15, 1:00 PM. To make this project as simple as possible, we will hold a "hackathon" to complete it. Luis will run the hackathon and be available to answer questions. You may also discuss and work with the other students in the course during the hackathon to work through incorporating your simulators into OCCAM. Tentatively, I expect the hackathon will be Saturday afternoon, December 9. We will discuss and confirm the time/day during lecture on Monday, December 4. Note, the hackathon is optional, and you don't need to attend it.
11/22: Here are some frequently asked questions and answers for project 2.
11/7: Exam #2 is scheduled for November 15. The exam will cover scoreboarding, Tomasulo, speculative execution, multi-issue, and basic caching (up to and include November 8). Here is a sample exam from Fall 2016. This sample exam covers the same material as the exam on November 15. No solution is available for the sample exam.
11/1: Project demonstrations will be November 9 between 1 to 4pm in 20 minute slots. Please send email to Wenchen (wew50@pitt.edu) to sign up. If you are not available on this day, then please let Dr. Childers and Wenchen know, and we will find another suitable time. First come, first served.
11/1: I sent exam 1 grades by email. The email was sent to your University official account. If you didn't receive the email, please let me know.
10/30: Project 2 is now available. It is due Dec. 1.
10/25: Project 1 is due Friday, Nov. 3 (one week after the original due date).
10/25: Here are the slides about SST and an example Python configuration file. When you download the Python file, remain it by removing the .txt extension.
10/10: Exam 1 is Wednesday, October 18.
10/10: Here is a sample exam from last year. Sorry, I don't have an answer key.
10/3: The TA for the course is Wenchen Wang. Her email is wew50 at pitt dot edu, and her office is 6507 Sennott Square. Her office hours are 9:00am-11:00am and 1:00pm-2:00pm every Tuesday. You may want to email Wenchen prior to the office hours, or maybe schedule an appointment.
10/3: Project 1 is available. It is due October 27 by 1:00 PM. Demos will likely be on Monday, October 30 and/or tuesday, October 31. Your completed project should be sent to the TA.
08/15: There will be some periods during which the instructor is traveling. This may require one or two "make up" lectures given at days/times other than the normal lecture day/time. Any make up lectures for the semester will be announced in the first lecture.
08/15: First class is Monday, August 28, 2017.
Course announcements will be put here. It is your responsibility to check the announcements regularly.
Important Links
Instructor
Dr. Bruce Childers (childers "at" cs.pitt.edu)
6409 Sennott Square
Office Hours: MW 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM (or by appointment)
Please come earlier, rather than later to office hours. The start and end time for office hours are strict due to other commitments.
Appointments are also available. Please send e-mail to schedule an appointment.
Much of the information on this web page is tentative and subject to change. Watch the schedule and the web page for the latest information.
Teaching Assistant
No teaching assistant
Description
A study of the hardware structure of computer systems and subsystems. Topics include: processor architecture, parallelism and pipelining, cache and main memory organization, I/O controllers and I/O processors, and interconnection structures.
Textbook
Computer Architecture -- A Quantitative Approach, John Hennessy and David Patterson, Fifth Edition, Morgan Kaufmann.
There may be supplemental material presented in some lectures and additional readings outside of lecture, such as important conference articles -- you are responsible for all information presented throughout the semester.
Simulator
We will be using a digital curator, OCCAM, for course projects and sharing experimental outcomes. We may also use the Sandia Structural Simulation Toolkit for simulation. More details will be made available during the course.
Requirements and Grading
The course includes exams, projects and participation. No extra credit will be offered. The grade distrbution is:
You may ask to have an exam or project regraded. However, the entire item will be regraded. This may or may not result in a grade change, either up or down. To have an assignment regraded, you must hand in the item with a typewritten paragraph explaining what was not graded correctly. You must ask for the regrading by the next class period after the project or exam was returned. There will be no exceptions to this requirement.
Exams
Currently, there will be two exams: one mid-term exam and one final exam. The final exam is comprehensive: It covers all material in the course. The tentative exam dates are listed on the schedule. The final exam date is set by the University. If you are taking more than two finals on the same day, you must talk to your instructor at least two weeks before the final exam to make accommodations.
If course participants want to have two mid-term exams, I will try to accommodate this request, depending on lecture progress during the semester. We will discuss this issue in the first class, but delay the decision until we've started to make our way through the lectures.
Exams are closed book and an individual effort. You may use a simple non-programmable calculator. The use of simple calculators is recommended: The exams will require computing many values and it will be hard to do so without a calculator.
Projects
There will be projects in the course. You will implement a simulation of some aspects of a processor and/or memory, and conduct experiments with the simulation. You may also be asked to prepare and give presentations in the course.
Late/Early Assignments
Illness and other compelling reasons: A late assignment (exam or project) with a valid excuse according to University rules, such as an extended illness or hospitalization, will be accepted up to one week late without a penalty. Arrangements must be made in advance when possible; written documentation of the compelling reason must be provided.
There will be no early exams. Make up exams must be pre-approved. No make up exams will be given that do not meet University rules and have proper (written) documentation.
All make up work (exams, projects) must be completed within one week of the original assignment.
Under extraordinary circumstances, such as an extended multi-week illness, other accommodations can be made for the course and this policy can be amended to permit some flexibility for completing the missed work.
Collaboration
All exams and projects are individual efforts unless otherwise noted. You will be well informed when you can collaborate and the form of that collaboration. For projects, it is acceptable to talk with a fellow student about how to approach an assignment. It is not acceptable to collaborate on the actual assignment, such as writing a program together or reviewing each other project.
Any deviation from the policy of individual work is considered cheating. The first case of cheating will result in a 0 for the assignment. A second case will result in an F for the course. If warranted, the appropriate Dean's office will be notified. All parties involved in an incident will be considered to have cheated.
If you have any doubts about what is "cheating", ask the instructor for clarification before you do it. The instructor will make the final determination of what is considered cheating.
Attendance
Attending class is vital to success! It is unlikely you will do well in the course unless you attend lectures. You are responsible for all material presented in lecture, including material not directly covered in the textbook. If you must miss a class, you should ask your classmates for course notes. The instructor will not provide course notes. Extra credit may be occasionally offered in class. A portion of your grade will be determined by classroom participation; see the grade distribution.
File Backups
It is your responsibility to backup your work regularly. Please consider using reliable and multiple ways to protect your files! The University offers space that you can use for backups through Box, if you like. Google Drive and DropBox also work well. You can even email the assignment to yourself occasionally to create a backup. No extensions for assignments will be approved due to failed laptops, hard drive crashes, lost USB drives, or other calamities that lead to lost or corrupted data. Per the policy on voluntary late assignments, you may turn in a project up to five days late (with a penalty), which should give sufficient time to recover a lost/corrupted project.
Cell Phones, Laptops, Tablets (& other electronic devices)
Turn off your cell phone, tablet, laptop, etc., before lecture starts. If you want to use a laptop, tablet, cell phone or recording device to take notes, you must ask the instructor for permission.
Note for Students
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union (412-648-7890), as soon as possible in the term. They will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.
Please look at the web pages for the joint BS/MS Computer Science program and the co-op program.