SYLLABUS

CIS 655

Computer Architecture

Fall 1999

Instructor: Ernest Sibert
3-171 CST, x3110
eesibert@ecs.syr.edu

Office hours:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:00-11:30
Wednesdays 10:00-12:00
Other times by appointment

Assistants:

Mike Kirby
mskirby@ecs.syr.edu
Scitech 1-236
Office Hours:
Tuesday 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Wednesday 11:00am - 12 noon

Stefan Robila
sarobila@ecs.syr.edu
Scitech 1-236
Office Hours:
Tuesday 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Wednesday 4:30pm - 5:30pm
Thursday 1:00pm - 2:00pm

Text:

Patterson, David A. & Hennessy, John L. Computer Architecture A
Quantitative Approach (2nd edition). Morgan Kaufmann Publishers,
San Francisco, 1996. ISBN 1-55860-329-8

[Note: The book is inconsistent about the order of the authors'
names. I've followed the title page. The cover reverses them.
It's commonly described as "Hennessy and Patterson".]


On-line course notes and other materials are on the ECS Unix
system at /home/doc/eesibert/cis655/
or
http://www.cis.syr.edu/courses/cis655


More will be added as the term progresses.


Prerequisites:

Everyone should be a proficient programmer, able to read and write
C, though you don't have to be a wizard with all the C libraries.

Everyone should have a knowledge of computer organization and
assembly language programming comparable to CIS 341. It shouldn't
matter what architecture(s) you've encountered. But you should
understand basic techniques for implementing control structures,
address arithmetic for locating array entries, and the like.

Everyone should be prepared to do some work in Unix, for example,
compiling and running simple C programs. Again, you don't have
to be a wizard.


Meeting times:

Sec 1 Gifford Auditorium, HBC Tu-Th 4:00-5:20
Sec 2 010 School of Management M - W 3:00-4:20



Dates to notice (tentative):

Monday, 6 Sept. Labor Day No classes
Tuesday, 7 Sept. Sec 2 meet with Sec 1

Monday, 20 Sept. Yom Kippur No classes
Tuesday, 21 Sept. Sec 2 meet with Sec 1

Wednesday, 27 Oct. Review, Sec 1 meet with Sec 2
Thursday, 28 Oct. *** Exam ***, both sections

Wednesday, 24 Nov. Thanksgiving break, no classes
Thursday, 25 Nov. Thanksgiving break, no classes

Friday, 10 Dec. Last day of classes

Tuesday, 21 Dec. Final, both sections, 5:00-7:00 pm ???


Exams and assignments:

Homework will be assigned most weeks, due the following week.
Most assignments are intended more to help you learn the subject
than to assess your mastery of the material, but some exercises
later in the semester will count more significantly toward your grades.

Assignments for both sections will be posted on Mondays, due
on Thursday of the week following by 2:00 pm.

Assignments must be turned in (on paper) to 1-236 SciTech
no later than 2:00 p.m. on the Thursday they are due.

You should prepare your assignment on a computer and print it.
Generally, fixed-width fonts (typewriter style) are better
than variable-width fonts.

Exercises which consist almost entirely of mathematical
derivations may be handwritten, but you should be very
careful to make your paper legible. They may, of course,
be typed.

Unless specifically designated as team efforts, assignments are
to be completed by individuals. You are encouraged to talk to
each other (as well as the instructor and assistants) to advance
your understanding of the course material, and indeed to understand
the problems posed in assignments. If it should happen that you
in fact receive assistance in working an assignment from another
you should acknowledge that assistance in your paper. Failure
to acknowledge assistance constitutes plagiarism.

Exams are open book, open notes (be reasonable).

MID-TERM EXAM

28 October 1999 2:30pm - 4:20pm

Gifford Auditorium