CSc 4210/6210 - Computer Architecture
Dr. Michael Weeks

Syllabus

1. See the class specific information.
2. See the class policies.
3. See the specific dates of importance.
4. Spring 2024 final exam schedule

Homeworks and Assignments

• Homework assignments Note that I may instead write the homework on the board during class. Turn the homework in through iCollege.
• January 24 - Quiz 1
• February 7 - Quiz 2
• February 21 - Quiz 3
• March 6 - Quiz 4
• March 27 - Quiz 5
• April 8 - Quiz 6
• April 17 - Quiz 7
• Summary instructions for graduate students only. The summary is due in class, along with a 5-minute presentation April 10. Use this link to leave feedback for each presentation. See the how to review page.
• Wednesday April 24th, 2024 from 08:00 to 10:30 is the final exam

Other Resources

• Article about problem with cars that could be hardware, or maybe software
• Here's an interesting video about making transistors
• I posted a video to youtube: Experimenting with N and P type transistors
• I posted another video to youtube: LED and Transistor
• The silicon atom
• The silicon crystal
• The p-doped silicon crystal
• The n-doped silicon crystal
• A silicon wafer
• How to use sources in your reports.
• Interview with Forrest Mims
• Here is information about the Pentium bug.
• Flash memory is non-volatile, so some laptops use it in place of a hard-drive. Computers use Flash memory for some things, like storing the BIOS, and a mix of DRAM and SRAM, for low-cost (with DRAM) and speed (with SRAM). Early in the semester, we covered how to make a flip-flop from tri-state buffers and inverters, and that is an example of SRAM. Wouldn't it be great if we could use one type of memory for everything? While we could a better question is: would we really want to? Doing things the way they are currently balances performance, cost, and non-volatility, and while we might tolerate spending additional money for better performance, we need to have non-volatile storage. So the answer is "maybe," depending on these and other factors, like operation cost. Intel has a product to combine RAM and long-term storage that may lead to getting rid of the distinction. Is this going to be the biggest break-through in computer architecture in your lifetime, or just another over-hyped product?
• Technology in the workplace: phone snubbed by the boss leads to a lack of trust
• Tutorial on using a 7-segment display
• David Patterson Says It's Time for New Computer Architectures and Software Languages
• Intel CPU ID controversy
• EFF talks about fake accounts on Facebook
• Intel's "chiplets"
• transistors on a thread
• Intel's 4004 a 4 bit processor from 1971
• intel-teases-powerful-discrete-gpu
• intel-xe-graphics-everything