cs470 - Spring 1999


Goal

To give students an unitary view of factors deciding what the architecture of a computer is. Design, Computer Organization and Assembly Language are presented in their complex interaction.


Section 51 Section 52 Section 53
Instructor Virgil Bistriceanu
Lecture M 6:25 pm - 8:10 pm, SB-106
Lab T 6:25 pm - 8:10 pm W 6:25 pm - 8:10 pm R 6:25 pm - 8:10 pm
Lab room SB-108
Office hours MW 8:00 am - 9:00 am
M 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Office SB-110
Phone (312) 567-5146
Fax (312) 567-5067
e-mail virgil@csam.iit.edu
Pager 8886889978@skytel.com
Teaching Assistant
  • Name: Witawas Srisa-An
  • Office: SB-112i
  • Office Hours: Tuesday from 2:05 pm to 3:05 pm, Thursday 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
  • email: sriswit@charlie.cns.iit.edu


Textbook

"Computer Organization and Design: the hardware/software interface"
David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy - second edition
Morgan Kaufmann, Inc. 1994
ISBN 1-55860-491-X

Grading

  • Homeworks: 20%
  • Midterm: 20%
  • Final: 20%
  • Project: 20
  • Laboratory: 20%

Everything you have to turn in is due at the beginning of the class the day the work is due. For late submittal there is a 10% per business day penalty. Penalties start from the moment the class the work is due starts.

Exams are open-book(s) open-notes.

  • A: 90 - 100
  • B: 80 - 89
  • C: 70 - 79
  • D: 60 - 69
  • E: 0 - 59

Failure to take a passing grade in either exams, project, lab or homeworks earns you a failing grade.

Class attendance and participation will help settle the borderline grades. Regular class attendance is important and students are expected to actively participate in class: questions and comments are always welcome.


Topics

  1. Fundamentals of computer design. (2)
  2. Basic organization of a von Neumann computer. (2)
  3. Instruction set design. (5)
  4. Addressing modes. (3)
  5. CPU implementation. (6)
  6. Interrupts. (3)
  7. The memory hierarchy 1: general design principles. (1)
  8. The memory hierarchy 2: the cache. (2)
  9. The memory hierarchy 3: main memory. (2)
  10. Virtual memory. (2)

Important events

Event Sections 051, 052 and 053
Midterm March 1, 6:25 pm
Last Day to withdraw with assured W March 31, 1999
Preliminary project report is due March 22, 1999
Project is due April 19, 1999
Semester Ends May 7, 1999
Final May 10, 1999 - 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm

The instructor for this class reserves the right to change this schedule.


Varia

Unless otherwise stated all papers you turn in will be TYPED. No handwritten work is accepted. Each page will have a header as follows:

  • the left side: your name
  • middle: page number and the total number of pages (ex. 2/5 indicates this is page 2 out of a total of 5)
  • right hand side: name of the assignment (ex. Homework #2)

Each page will also have a footer:

  • the left hand side will contain the following text: cs470-<section>: Spring 1999 where <section> stands for the section you are in
  • the right hand side will contain the following text: Illinois Institute of Technology - CSAM

The header and the footer will be Arial, 10 points, regular. The text for the paper itself will be typed using Times Roman (12 points regular, except for titles which may be larger and bold).


Last update: February 15, 1999 Virgil Bistriceanu's home page The Computer Science and Applied Mathematics home page