Course Information for CS252: Computer Architecture and Engineering
Fall 2015
Catalog Description: Graduate Computer Architecture
4 units. Three hours of lecture per week.
Prerequisites: CS152
or equivalent, or permission of instructor.
Class Schedule/Rooms
Lectures: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30am-11:00pm, 320 Soda Hall
Instructor: Krste
Asanović, Professor, CS Division, EECS Department
Email: krste at eecs
Office Hours: TBD, 579 Soda Hall (ASPIRE Lab, email to confirm)
TA: Adam Izraelevitz
Email: adamiz at eecs
Office Hours: Thursday 3-4pm, 579 Soda Hall (ASPIRE Lab, email to confirm)
Course Grading
Course grade is based on four major components: Paper reviews
and discussions, weekly problem sets, midterm, and final
course project.
Paper assignments (15% = 5% for written reviews plus 10% for
in-class discussion)
Papers (~2) are assigned for almost every lecture, and each
student must read and review the papers individually. Papers
have already been assigned for the entire course to encourage
early reading. Paper reviews are due Sunday @ 11:59pm before a
Monday lecture, and Tuesday @ 11:59pm before a Wednesday
lecture. Paper reviews consist of a 200-300 word review of the
strengths and weaknesses of the paper, as if the paper was being
discussed at a program committee meeting at the date the paper
was written. Late reviews will receive zero credit. Students
will receive 5% credit for the writeups themselves and 10%
credit for participation in class discussion of the papers. The
lowest two days' scores for reviews will be ignored in the final
grading; no separate extensions or slip days will be provided.
Problem sets (15%)
Problem sets will be assigned weekly on Monday, and each student
will answer the questions individually (unless collaboration is
explicitly allowed). All problem sets are due Sunday @ 11:59pm.
Late problem sets will receive zero credit. The lowest two
problem set scores will be ignored in the final grading - no
separate extensions or slip days will be provided.
Midterm (30%)
In-class midterm exam on Wednesday November 4. Covers material
(lectures and reading) up to and including Wednesday October 28.
Closed book, no notes, no computers/phones. Test will emphasize
understanding not memorization.
Class Project (40% = 15% final presentation plus 25% final paper)
The class project should be on a topic that could become a paper
at a top architecture conference (ISCA, ASPLOS, MICRO, HPCA).
Students must work in groups of 2 on the project. A project
proposal is due at 11:59PM on Sunday October 25, and should
consist of a two-page PDF writeup with title, co-authors, and a
description of the problem you're attacking, what has been done
previously, what your new approach is, what resources you'll use
to complete the project, and you're expected milestones along
the way. The later part of the semester replaces weeks of
lectures with individual group project meetings with the
instructor to present status updates and to get feedback on
project progress. The final project presentation will count for
15% of your final grade, and will be 25 minutes long with
additional 5 minutes for questions, and will be given in a
special session during RRR week. The final project paper should
be a 10-page PDF paper in two-column conference format, and must
be sent to instructor by 11:59PM on Friday December 11.
See also Departmental Grading Guidelines for Graduate Courses
Piazza
We'll be using Piazza for communication in the class. Sign up
here.
Textbooks
The following textbook is required for the course:
 |
J. L. Hennessy and D. A. Patterson, Computer
Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 5th Edition, Morgan
Kaufmann Publishing Co., Menlo Park, CA. 2012.
ISBN: 978-0-12-383872-8
We will also use material from
the companion
Web site.
|
The following textbook is recommended to refresh your background and
to provide a simpler introduction to some of the basic concepts. Any
recent edition should be sufficient for background study.
