CS3200 Computer Architecture

This course examines the organization of computer and processor architectures. Instruction set design alternatives, processor implementation, memory system hierarchy, and I/O systems are the main topics of study. A quantitative approach is taken in which different design alternatives are evaluated and compared through analysis and/or experimentation. The course is accompanied by a set of labs which reinforce and extend the lecture subject matter.

Prerequisite

CS2011 and either CS2020 or permission of the instructor

Lecture Hours

3

Lab Hours

2

Statement Of Course Objectives

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successfully completing the course, the student will be able to:

• Understand the tradeoffs of real-world computer and processor architectures.
• Be able to measure and analyze the performance of computer systems.
• Grasp energy implications of display, memory, storage, and processor technologies.
• Be able to leverage different types of parallelism.
• Understand alternatives to von Neumann processors.
• Understand the distinction between latency and throughput.
• Understand how custom hardware can accelerate high-throughput applications.
• Be able to operate and program a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster.
• Balance tradeoffs between computation, communication, control, and storage costs.
• Be able to use computer architecture tools employed by researchers and practitioners.