CSE 521/560M: Computer Systems Organization

Fall 2003

Instructor Patrick Crowley, Bryan Hall 522-D, pcrowley@cse.wustl.edu
Course web site http://www.arl.wustl.edu/~pcrowley/cse521/
Course newsgroup
wu.cs.class.521
Course Meeting Times Monday & Wednesday 2:30-4:00 PM in Whitaker Hall, Room 218
Office Hours Tuesday 11:00 AM-Noon, Friday 1:30-2:30 PM, and by appointment
Prerequisites CS 306S and 260M (or equivalents)

Caveat: This syllabus is tentative, and subject to adjustments and changes throughout the semester.

Course Catalog Description

An exploration of the central issues in computer architecture: instruction set design, addressing and register set design, control unit design, microprogramming, memory hierarchies (cache and main memories, mass storage, virtual memory), pipelining, bus organization, RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computers), and CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computers). Architecture modeling and simulation using VHDL.

Texts & Reading Material

First Text: J. Hennessy and D. Patterson, Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, Second edition, Morgan-Kaufmann, 2003. (ISBN: 1-55860-724-2).

Second Text: P. Ashenden, The Student's Guide to VHDL, Morgan-Kaufmann, 2003. (ISBN: 1-55860-520-7).

We will also read papers from the research literature.

Assignments

There will be 3 types of assignments:

  1. Readings. You will read a major portion of the 800+ page text, plus research papers. The course mailing list will be used to discuss the material. These commentaries will contribute to class participation.
  2. Homeworks. There will be a small number of homework assignments.
  3. Project. We will perform a number of architecture studies with VHDL and other modeling tools.

Exam

There will be one final exam.

Grading

Final 40%
Assignments 50%
Class participation 10%

Disability Resources

Students with disabilities or suspected disabilities are strongly encouraged to both bring any additional considerations to the attention of the instructor and make full use of the University's Disability Resource Center (http://disability.wustl.edu).

Academic Integrity

(From Undergraduate Programs catalog, p. 16) You are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity and refrain from the forms of misconduct spelled out in the University Academic Integrity Policy, which is published in full in Bearings and elsewhere. Violations will lead to disciplinary action and may result in suspension or expulsion from the University.
Students and faculty have an obligation to uphold the highest standards of scholarship. Plagiarism or other forms of cheating are not tolerated. When a student has violated the standards of the academic community, an instructor may recommend that the student be brought before a disciplinary committee. These are the most frequent areas of violation:
Findings of academic misconduct may result in a written reprimand, failure of an assignment or course, disciplinary probation, withdrawal of merit-based scholarship support, or other sanctions. Severe or repeat offenses may be referred to the University Judicial Board for consideration of suspension or expulsion.