The Computer Architecture (ECE568/668) Homepage

Fall 2006 semester

Instructor: Prof. Israel Koren, Email: koren 'at' ecs.umass.edu

Course Outline
Textbook: D.A. Patterson and J.L. Hennessy, Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 3rd edition, Morgan-Kaufmann, 2002.
Chapters covered: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and Appendix A.
OWL quizzes
Select "University of Massachusetts at Amherst", "Electrical and Computer Engineering."
- Quiz 1 - due Monday Sept. 18.
  If you have a question regarding the quiz please email to the class TA, Michael Gregoire.
TA Information

Midterm I - after lecture 13, (two hours). Mon. Oct. 23, 5-7pm, ELAB 325. Open textbook and open lecture notes exam (use of the web-based or any other architecture related software is not allowed). Material covered: Lectures 1 - 12 and the review during Lecture 13 (Parts 1 - 7).
Undergraduate students should note that Monday, October 30 is the last day to drop a class with a "W."
Michael will hold a review session on Friday Oct. 20, at 4:00pm in the 1st floor conference room in Knowles Eng. Bldg.

Midterm II - after lecture 23 (two hours). Wed. Nov. 29, 5-7pm, Marston 211.
Michael will hold a review session on Monday Nov. 27, at 4:00pm, in the 1st floor conference room in Knowles Eng. Bldg. Open course textbook and open lecture notes exam (use of the web-based or any other architecture related software is not allowed). Material covered: Lectures 1 - 22 (focusing mainly on 13 - 22) and the review during Lecture 23 (Parts 8 - 14).

Final Exam - two hours. Thur. Dec. 21, 4:00-6:00pm, MRST 211.
Open textbook, lecture notes and HWs (use of any other material, the web-based or any other architecture related software is not allowed). Material covered: All lectures (Parts 1 - 17 except 15, and Power-aware Parts 1-2).

Sample Final Exam (pdf format)

Selected solutions to the Sample Final Exam

Lecture notes (pdf format)

Part 1, Part 2
Part 3, Part 4
Part 5, Part 6
Part 7, Part 8
Sample test questions (to be discussed during Lecture 13).
Part 9, Part 10
Part 11, Part 12
Part 13, Part 14
Sample test questions (to be discussed during Lecture 23 on Nov. 28).
Part 15 (skipped), Part 16
Part 17
Power-Aware Computing: Part 1, Part 2
Sample final test questions (To be discussed during the last lecture - Number 27). It is highly recommended that you attempt to solve these problems before coming to class.).

WinDLX Information

Quiz.
Computer Architecture Educational Tools
(Cache demonstrator, Pipeline Reservation Table analyzer and more)

Technical papers (Copyright Note) :

Additional Resources for the textbook (select/click "Companion Site").

The Computer Architecture Home Page. Select Miscellenea for various articles and tools.

Additional Links

Created by Prof. Israel Koren, koren 'at' ecs.umass.edu