CMSC 611: Advanced Computer Architecture

Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 5^th or 6^th Edition

John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson

Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, ISBN 978-0-12-383872-8

Course Outline

1. Quantitative Principles of Computer Design

• The Task of a Computer Designer

• Technology and Computer Usage Trends

• Cost and Trends in Cost

• Measuring and Reporting Performance

• Benchmarks and metrics

2. Instruction Set Principles and Examples

• Classification of Instruction Set Architectures

• Instruction Formats and Semantics

• Memory Addressing Modes

• Operations in the Instruction Set

• Encoding and Instruction Set

• The Role of Compilers

3. Advanced Pipelining and Instruction-Level Parallelism

• Basic Pipeline Operations

• Data and Control Pipeline Hazards

• Instruction-Level Parallelism

• Dynamic Instruction Scheduling and Branch Prediction

4. Memory-Hierarchy Design

• Cache Design Issues

• Performance Evaluation

• Virtual Memory Addressing

• Memory Protection Mechanisms

• Memory coherency techniques

5. Storage Systems

• Types of Storage Devices

• Buses-Connecting I/O Devices to CPU/Memory

• I/O Performance Measures

• Reliability, Availability, and RAID

• Interfacing to an Operating System

6. Thread Level Parallelism

• Multiprocessor Systems and Applications

• Centralized Shared-Memory Architectures

• Distributed Shared-Memory Architectures

• Execution Synchronization

• Models of Memory Consistency

7. Data Level Parallelism (Time Permitting)

• Vector Processing

• Support for Multimedia Applications

• Graphics Processing Units

8. Warehouse-Scale Computers (Time Permitting)

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Grade Structure and Policy

Course work

Grade distribution

Midterm exam

25%

Final exam

30%

Project

25%

Homework

20%

·         Four assignments will be given and their average is to be normalized to %20 of the final grade

·         Assignments are due in class. Late assignments are not accepted.

·         The project is mainly hardware design assignments by writing an architecture simulator in a high level programming language, e.g., C.

·         UMBC rules apply to cheating/copying. You may work together and discuss homework and the project. You must do your own work and not copy from anyone else.

·         Copying/cheating will result in a minimum punishment of a zero grade for the assignment or project.

Course grade

Range

A

90% - 100%

B

80% -89.9%

C

70% -79.9%

D

60% - 69.9%

• Academic Integrity Statement:

“By enrolling is this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UMBC's scholarly community in which everyone's academic work and behavior and held to the highest standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts are all forms of academic dishonesty, and they are wrong. Academic misconduct could result in disciplinary action that may include, but is not limited to, suspension or dismissal. To find useful information about avoiding plagiarism infractions through appropriate citations, or to read the full policy regarding student academic misconduct for the graduate school, please see http://www.umbc.edu/provost/integrity.

• Title IX/Sexual Misconduct Statement:

“ Any student who has experienced sexual harassment or assault, relationship violence, and/or stalking is encouraged to seek support and resources. There are a number of resources available to you. With that said, as an instructor, I am considered a Responsible Employee, per UMBC'S interim Policy on Prohibited Sexual Misconduct, Interpersonal Violence, and Other Related Misconduct. This means that while I am here to listen and support you, I am required to report disclosures of sexual assault, domestic violence, relationship violence, stalking, and/or gender-based harassment to the University's Title IX Coordinator. The purpose of these requirements is for the University to inform you of options, supports, and resources. You can utilize support and resources even if you do not want to take any further action. You will not be forced to file a police report, but please be aware, depending on the nature of the offense, the University may take action.

If you need to speak with someone in confidence about an incident, UMBC has the following Confidential Resources available to support you:
- The Counseling Center: 410-455-2742 (M-F 8:30-5:00)
- University Health Services: 410-455-2542 (M-F 8:30-5:00)
- For after-hours emergency consultation, call the police at 410-455-5555

Other on-campus supports and resources:
- The Women's Center (available to students of all genders): 410-455-2714 (M-Th 9:306, F 9:30-4:00)
- Title IX Coordinator: 410-455-1606 (9:00-5:00)

Child Abuse and Neglect:
Please note that Maryland law requires that I report all disclosures or suspicions of child abuse or neglect to the Department of Social Service and/or the police. /span>.

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Lecture notes

Lecture	Date	Subject
1	August 27, 2020	Introduction and overview
2	September 1, 2020	Cost and Performance of Computers
3	September 3, 2020	Performance Summary and Benchmarks
4	September 8, 2020	Instruction Set Architecture (I)
5	September 10, 2020	Instruction Set Architecture (II)
6	September 15, 2020	Introduction to Pipelining
7	September 17, 2020	Pipeline Hazards
8	September 22, 2020	Control Hazards and Exception Handling
9	September 24, 2020	Pipeline Implementation Challenges
10	September 29, 2020	Instruction Level Parallelism
11	October 1, 2020	Dynamic Pipeline Scheduling
12	October 6, 2020	Dynamic Branch Prediction
13	October 8, 2020	Tomasulo's Dynamic Instruction Scheduling Algorithm
14	October 13, 2020	ILP with Multiple Instruction Issue
15	October 15, 2017	Review
16	October 20, 2020	Midterm exam
17	October 22, 2020	Hardware Assisted Speculative Execution
18	October 27, 2020	Memory Hierarchy and Basics of Cache
19	October 29, 2020	Reducing Cache Miss Rate
20	October 31, 2020	Optimizing Cache Performance
21	November 5, 2020	Main Memory
22	November 10, 2020	I/O Systems
23	November 12, 2020	Performance and Interfacing I/O Devices
24	November 17, 2020	Introduction to Multiprocessor Systems
25	November 19, 2020	Vector Processing (time permitting)
26	November 24, 2020	Multimedia SIMD and Graphic Processing Units (time permitting)
27	December 1, 2020	Cache Coherence Protocols
28	December 3, 2020	Warehouse-Scale Computers (time permitting)
29	December 8, 2020	Review
30	December 10, 2020	Final exam (10:30 AM-12:30 PM)

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Assignments

Assignment

Date Out

Due Date

Assignment #1

September 10, 2020

September 17, 2020

Assignment #2

September 24, 2020

October 1, 2017

Assignment #3

October 8, 2020

October 15, 2020

Assignment #4

November 17, 2020

November 24, 2020

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Projects

Project	Date Out	Due Date
Term Project	October 8, 2020	December 1, 2020

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Last Revised: August 11, 2020

Course work	Grade distribution
Midterm exam	25%
Final exam	30%
Project	25%
Homework	20%

Course grade	Range
A	90% - 100%
B	80% -89.9%
C	70% -79.9%
D	60% - 69.9%

Assignment	Date Out	Due Date
Assignment #1	September 10, 2020	September 17, 2020
Assignment #2	September 24, 2020	October 1, 2017
Assignment #3	October 8, 2020	October 15, 2020
Assignment #4	November 17, 2020	November 24, 2020