Goal and Topics
Computer architecture. Performance versus cost tradeoffs. Instruction set design. Basic processor implementation and pipelining. Instruction-level parallelism and its exploitation. Multiprocessors and thread-level parallelism. Memory hierarchy design. Storage systems. (more course information)
Prerequisite: CSE330.

Grading
The following grading rubric will be used to evaluate all the submitted material and performance tasks:
A+: Student shows superior understanding of purpose and significance of the problem; is able to identify related problems; has solved the problem using novel approach and insight.
A: Student shows good understanding of purpose and significance of the problem; is able to identify related problems; has solved the problem displaying some degree of insight.
B: Student can solve the problem with some sophistication but is unable to judge its importance.
C: Student lacks understanding of how to approach the problem or proposes very naive solutions for the problem.

The final letter grade will be assigned based on weighted average of the grades obtained in the following categories:

Assignments : 40%
Quiz : 10%
Midterm Exam : 30%
Final Exam : 20%

Notice:
1) Assignments include written and programming assignments; knowledge of C and Assembly Language programming is assumed.
2) Quizzes can be unannounced.
3) Graduate students are expected to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the subject material. At times, graduate students will be assigned more challenging assignments and exam problems.

Notice: the above description is not finalized and subject to change. Student should check back this page on a regular basis.