360N: Computer Architecture

Fall 2008

University of Texas at Austin

Instructor:  Prof. Derek Chiou

TAs: Gene Wu and Doe Hyun Yoon


Topics to be covered:

  • What is Architecture, Tradeoffs
  • Instruction Set Architecture, LC-3b ISA
  • Assemblers: Translating Assembly Language to ISA
  • Microarchitecture: Detailed LC-3b implementation
  • Physical memory, unaligned access, interleaving, SRAM, DRAM
  • Virtual memory, page tables, TLB, VAX model, PowerPC model, contrast with segmentation
  • Cache memory
  • Interrupts/Exceptions
  • I/O
  • Performance Improvement. Metrics, Pipelining.
  • Branch prediction
  • Out-of-order execution
  • Vector processing
  • Integer arithmetic, Floating point, IEEE Standard
  • Measurement Methodology
  • Intro to Multiprocessing, Interconnection networks, Amdahl's Law, Consistency models
  • Cache coherency
  • Alternative Models of Concurrency: SIMD, MIMD, VLIW, dataflow, etc.
  • State-of-the-art Microprocessors

Important dates:

Date

Work Issued/Due

Aug 27

Lab 1 Issued
(write LC-3b assembler, write an assembler, assemble your program)

Sep 3

 

Sep 8

Lab 2 Issued

(Write a program in C that simulates at the instruction
cycle level the baseline LC-3b ISA. Test your simulator with
the output of the assembler for the application program
written in Programming Lab 1.)

Sep 10

 

Sep 15

Lab 1 Due (Sep 14 11:59PM)

Sep 17

 

Sep 22

Lab 2 Due (Sep 21th, 11:59PM)

Lab 3 Issued
(Implement the LC-3b)

Sep 24

 

Sep 29

 

Oct 1

 

Oct 6

Lab 3 Due (Oct 5th, 11:59PM)

Lab 4 Issued
(Interrupts/Exceptions)

Oct 8

 

Oct 13

 

Oct 15

EXAM 1

Oct 20

 

Oct 22

 

Oct 27

 

Oct 29

Lab 4 Due (Oct 28th, 11:59pm)
Lab 5 Issued
(Virtual memory)

Nov 3

 

Nov 5

 

Nov 10

 

Nov 12

 

Nov 17

EXAM 2

Nov 19

Lab 5 Due (Nov 18th, 11:59PM)
Lab 6 Issued
(Pipelining)

Nov 24

 

Nov 26

 

Dec 1

 

Dec 3

Lab 6 Due (Dec 5th, 11:59PM)

Dec 14

TENTATIVE (Registrar has power to change) FINAL EXAM