Schedule

This class meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30 PM to 5:45 PM, except on University holidays or if I cancel class. All dates in the following schedule are tentative, except those fixed by the University; if some topic listed here as taking one lecture in fact takes two lectures to cover adequately, or vice versa, the schedule will shift.

I expect you to have read the reading assignments before the lecture that deals with that topic; this way I can concentrate my time on answering questions and clarifying subtle or difficult points in the textbook, rather than on reading the textbook to you, which will bore both of us. Please read ahead!

Date(s)	Assignment	Reading	Lecture Subject
26 Jan			Administrivia, "what is computer architecture?"
28 Jan		1	Levels of Abstraction and Parts of a Computer
2 Feb	HW1	2--2.4	How fast is this computer?
4 Feb		2.5--2.10	Ways to measure performance
5 Feb			Last day to add courses
9 Feb			Basic electricity
11 Feb	HW1 due; HW2		Using the Lab
16 Feb		3--3.9	Review MIPS assembly language
18 Feb		3.10--3.16	I'll be out of town; discuss among yourselves
19 Feb			Last day to drop courses
23 Feb		B--B.3	Boolean logic and gates
25 Feb			Size and depth of combinational circuits
2 Mar	HW2 due; HW3		Lab work; catch up
4 Mar		4--4.4	Implementing arithmetic and logic with gates
9 Mar		4--4.4	How to Add
11 Mar		4.5	An ALU to perform different operations
16 Mar		4.6--4.7	Multiplication and division
18 Mar	HW3 due	4.8--4.12	Conclusions about Computer Arithmetic
23 Mar	HW4	B.4--B.5	Circuits involving time
25 Mar		B.6--B.9	More about sequential circuits
30 Mar,1 Apr			Spring break --- no classes
5 Apr			Last day to withdraw from classes
6 Apr			Examples with sequential circuits
8 Apr		5--5.3	Designing a whole processor
13 Apr		5.4	Another example
15 Apr		5.5	Microprogramming
20 Apr	HW4 due	5.6--5.10	Conclusions about processor design
22 Apr		6--6.2	Overview of pipelining
27 Apr		6.3--6.5	Implementing pipelining
29 Apr		6.6--6.12	More on pipelining
4 May		7.1--7.3	Overview of cache memory
6 May		9?	Conclusions; review for final
11 May			3:30 -- 5:30, Final Exam