Syllabus

Lecture Notes

Lab Exercise

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Computer Architecture 

Course Objectives: 
  1. To expose students to the important principles of computer organization
  2. To learn design of the MIPS processor from a simple implementation to a fully pipelined version
  3. To introduce Verilog hardware description language for digital computer design
Prerequisites:
Logic Design 
Text: 
Computer Organization and Design - The Hardware/Software Interface. David. A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy, 2nd edition, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, ISBN 1-55860-428-6 (cloth). --- ISBN 1-55860-491-X (paper).

The Japanese translation of the book is also available. The information can be found at: http://ec.nikkeibp.co.jp/item/books/82660.html

Instructors:
Yong Liu and Wanming Chu
Time/Place:
  • Lecture:Fri-3/M1 (Liu)
  • Exercises: Fri-4 and Fri-5/hdw1 (Liu) and hdw2 (Chu)
Course Topics:
  1. A tutorial introduction to Verilog HDL
  2. Review of MIPS assembly language
  3. Datapath and Control
    • A single-cycle implementation 
    • A multicycle implementation
  4. Enhancing performance with pipelining
    • Pipelined datapath
    • Pipelined control
    • Data hazards and forwarding
    • Data hazards and stalls
Student Evaluation: 
Final examination (50), and laboratories reports (50). The laboratories reports consist of a number of projects. Students will learn both schematic design and Verilog design by doing design in the exercises. Students are expected to design the single-cycle datapath and control, and evolve this design into a pipelined organization.

The exam will be open book and open notes. There will be a number of questions. Some of them may have multiple parts.


Useful Links: 

Last updated: March , 2017