Course Information for CS252: Computer Architecture and Engineering
Spring 2014
Catalog Description: Graduate Computer Architecture
4 units. Three hours of lecture per week.
Prerequisites: CS152
or equivalent, or permission of instructor.
Class Schedule/Rooms
Lectures: Monday and Wednesday, 10:30am-12:00pm, 320 Soda Hall
Instructor: Krste
Asanović, Professor, CS Division, EECS Department
Email: krste at eecs
Office Hours: Wednesdays 3-4pm, 579 Soda Hall (email to confirm)
Course Grading
Course grade is based on three major components: Paper reviews
and discussions, midterm, and final course project.
Paper assignments (25% = 15% for reviews plus 10% for
discussion)
Papers (~2) will be assigned almost every lecture to be read
before the start of next lecture, and each student must email
their own individual 200-300 word review of each paper to
instructor before start of class. Reviews should not be
summaries that restate the abstract but should instead discuss
the strengths and weaknesses of the paper as if the paper was
being discussed at a program committee meeting at the date the
paper was written. Reviews received after 10:30AM sharp on day
of class will receive zero credit. Students will receive 15%
credit for the writeups themselves and 10% credit for
participation in class discussion of the papers. The lowest
three days' scores for reviews will be ignored in the final
grading, no separate extensions or slip days will be provided.
Midterm (25%)
In-class midterm exam on Wednesday April 2. Covers material
(lectures and reading) up to and including Wednesday March 19.
Closed book, no notes, no computers/phones. Test will emphasize
understanding not memorization.
Class Project (50% = 15% final presentation plus 35% final paper)
The class project should be on a topic that could become a paper
at a top architecture conference (ISCA, ASPLOS, MICRO, HPCA).
Students must work in groups of 2 on the project. A project
proposal is due at 11:59PM on Monday March 17, and should
consist of a two-page PDF writeup with title, co-authors, and a
description of the problem you're attacking, what has been done
previously, what your new approach is, what resources you'll use
to complete the project, and you're expected milestones along
the way. The later part of the semester replaces two weeks of
lectures with individual group project meetings with the
instructor to present status updates and to get feedback on
project progress. The final project presentation will count for
15% of your final grade, and will be 25 minutes long with
additional 5 minutes for questions, and will be given in a
special session during RRR week. The final project paper should
be a 10-page PDF paper in two-column conference format, and must
be sent to instructor by 11:59PM on Friday May 9.
See also Departmental Grading Guidelines for Graduate Courses
Piazza
We'll be using Piazza for communication in the class. Sign up
here.
Textbooks
The following textbook is required for the course:
 |
J. L. Hennessy and D. A. Patterson, Computer
Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 5th Edition, Morgan
Kaufmann Publishing Co., Menlo Park, CA. 2012.
ISBN: 978-0-12-383872-8
We will also use material from
the companion
Web site.
|
The following textbook is recommended to refresh your background and
to provide a simpler introduction to some of the basic concepts. Any
recent edition should be sufficient for background study.
