This course provides the essential background for students intending to pursue research in computer architecture and related fields. This course also serves as preparation for the UC Berkeley EECS computer architecture oral prelim examination.
We will explore major architectural concepts and design patterns such as in-order and out-of-order superscalars, vector/SIMD/GPUs, VLIW, multithreading, virtual memory and virtual machines, networking and storage architectures, power, energy, and thermal issues, performance evaluation methodologies, etc..
LECTURER — Dr. Lisa Wu
LECTURES — TUE/THU 11AM - 12:30PM — 320 SODA HALL
OFFICE HOURS — TUE 3PM-4PM, 577 SODA HALL (ASPIRE Lab)
TA — Eric Love
TA OFFICE HOURS — THU 3PM-5PM (ASPIRE LAB)
Prerequisite: CS152 or an equivalent upper division computer architecture course.
Required Textbook: “Computer Architecture, Fifth Edition: A Quantitative Approach”, J. L. Hennessy and D. A. Patterson, Morgan Kaufmann Publishing Co., September 2011. ISBN: 978-0123838728
Recommended Textbook (as a refresher): “Computer Organization and Design, Fifth Edition: The Hardware/Software Interface”, D. A. Patterson and J. L. Hennessy, Morgan Kaufmann Publishing Co., October 2013. ISBN: 978-0124077263
This term we will be using Piazza for class discussion. Sign up here.
DATE
LECTURE
READING ASSIGNMENTS (DUE THE NIGHT BEFORE LECTURE)
BACKGROUND READING/
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
TUE JAN 24
H&P Sections 1.5, 1.8
THU JAN 26
The Case for the Reduced Set Instruction Computer
Comments on “The Case for the RISC"
Performance from architecture: comparing a RISC and CISC with similar hardware organization
H&P Appendix C
TUE JAN 31
IBM’s Single-Processor Supercomputer Efforts
Implementation of Precise Interrupts in Pipelined Processors
H&P Sections 3.1-3.6
HW1
THU FEB 2
H&P Sections 3.1-3.6
TUE FEB 7
H&P Sections 3.8-3.11, 3.13
HW2
TUE FEB 14
HW3
TUE FEB 21
H&P Section 3.7, Appendix H
HW4
THU FEB 23
H&P Section 2.3, Appendix B.1-B.3
TUE FEB 28
H&P Sections 5.1-5.4
HW5
THU MAR 2
H&P Section 3.12
TUE MAR 7
H&P Sections 5.5-5.8
HW6
THU MAR 9
TUE MAR 14
H&P Sections 2.4-2.7
HW7
SUN MAR 19
Project Proposal Due by 11:59PM
TUE MAR 21
Survey of Virtual Machine Research
Bringing Virtualization to the x86 Architecture with the Original VMware Workstation
H&P Appendix D
THU MAR 23
Group Project Proposal Presentations
TUE MAR 28
SPRING BREAK
THU MAR 30
SPRING BREAK
THU APR 6
Midterm Examination
TUE APR 11
I/O
H&P Appendix D
TUE APR 13
Warehouse Computing
TUE APR 18
Individual Group Project Consults
THU APR 20
Individual Group Project Consults
TUE APR 25
Individual Group Project Consults
THU APR 27
Individual Group Project Consults
TUE MAY 2
Individual Group Project Consults
THU MAY 4
Final Project Presentations
10AM-12:30PM at Woz Lounge
FRI MAY 5
Final Project Paper Due by 11:59PM