ECE 182/201 Microcomputer System Architecture - Fall 2009
Prof. Howie Huang
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Wednesday 6:10 - 8:40 PM, FNGR 208
Office Hours: Wednesday 1 - 3 PM or by appointments

Introduction
This class covers advanced topics in computer architecture and design, including instruction-level parallelism, thread-level parallelism, memory, multithreading, and storage systems.  Prerequisite ECE181 Computer Organization is required.  Each student will be expected to read related chapters before the class and participate in discussions.  Students will work on the projects in pairs. There will be mid-term and final exams. 

All assignments are due in class on Wednesdays.  Note that 20% of the grade will be deducted for each day that an assignment is late.  Students are required to honor the GWU Code of Academic Integrity when completing all assignments, projects, and examinations. 

Textbook: Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson, Morgan Kaufmann, 2007.

Reference: Computer Organization and Architecture, W. Stalling, Prentice Hall (the content will be covered)

Grading
Participation:                                         5%          
Homework:                                          25%          

Projects                                               15%          
Mid-term Exam:                                  20%           
Final Exam:                                          35% 

TENTATIVE Course Schedule

Week 1
Sep 2

Review

Ch 1

 

Week 2
Sep 9

Introduction

Ch 1

HW1 out                

Project 1 out

Week 3
Sep 16

Pipelining and ISA

Appendix A & B

COA Ch 9 and 13

HW1 due

 

Week 4
Sep 23

ILP

Ch 2

HW2 out

Week 4
Sat Sep 26 9AM

ILP

Ch 2 & 3

 

Week 5
Sep 30

ILP

Ch 3

 

Week 6
Oct 7

TLP

Ch 4

HW2 due                  

Project 1 due 

Week 7
Oct 14

Mid-term

 

 

Week 8
Oct 21

TLP

Ch 4

                 

 

Week 9
Oct 28

Review of Memory Hierarchy

Appendix C

HW3 out

Project 2 out

Week 10
Nov 4

Memory Hierarchy

Ch 5

 

Week 11
Nov 11

Memory Hierarchy

Ch 5

HW3 due

HW4 out

Week 12
Nov 18

SC Õ09

No lecture

 

Week 13
Nov 25

Storage Systems

Ch 6

Project 2 due

HW4 due

Week 14
Dec 2

Advanced topics

 

 

Week 15
Dec 9

Reading Day

 

 

Week 16
Dec 16
 

Final Exam





 

Last Updated: November 1, 2009