Quick links: Overview · Schedule · Syllabus · Resources

Overview

Lecture location: Wilkinson 132
Lecture time: Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu, 10:30AM - 12:00PM

Instructor: Dr. Tyler Bletsch
Email: Tyler.Bletsch AT duke.edu
Office Hours: After class til nobody's left or I get hungry/sleepy; also by appointment

Recitation location: Wilkinson 132
Recitation time: Tue/Wed/Thu, 1:00PM - 2:15PM

Undergraduate Teaching Assistants:

• Zach Charlick (zachary.charlick AT duke.edu)
• Morgan Chu (morgan.chu AT duke.edu)
• Christopher Zhou (christopher.y.zhou AT duke.edu)

UTA Office Hours: TBA

Course Textbook: David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy. Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface, 5th edition, Morgan-Kaufmann.
→ Available free online from Duke Library here! (Physical copy from Amazon, AddAll) — Not the "ARM" edition or the "Revised Printing"

Links:

• Ed forum - get help and discuss course materials
• GradeScope - submit assignments and see feedback
• Canvas - see grades (TBA)
• Sakai - legacy, not used much
• The NAME BOARD - spreadsheet for getting in queue for zoom-based office hours
• Gitlab - The git repository for assignments
• Anonymous feedback - use this form to send anonymous feedback to the instructor
• Past lectures: Available under "Resources" below

Schedule

#	Date	Lecture	Reading	Recitation	Homework due (11:55:00pm)
1	Wed 5/17	Intro/Overview	Chapter 1	(No recitation)
2	Thu 5/18	C programming	Resources linked below	R01. Unix, text editing, and basic C	(Due Fri 5/19) Homework 0
3	Mon 5/22	C programming	Resources linked below, LinkedList.c, LinkedList.java,
4	Tue 5/23	From C to binary	Sec 2.1-2.4, 3.2, 3.5	R02. Pointers and memory management, part 1 - Q1-2 with Aaric Han - Q1-2 with Connor Murphy
5	Wed 5/24	Assembly - addone.s	Sec 2.5-end	R02. Pointers and memory management, continued
6	Thu 5/25	Assembly	Sec 2.5-end	R02. Pointers and memory management, part 2 - leaky.c - Q3-7 with Aaric Han   ^ Minor variation from your version: Missing Q6. - Sorting+Tips with Conner Murphy
	Mon 5/29	Memorial day
7	Tue 5/30	Assembly		R03. Assembly programming with SPIM, part 1 (Q1-4: SPIM intro) - SPIM intro    - Code: simple.s    - Solution: printint.s - C to MIPS 1: basic manual compiling    - Code: squares.c    - Solution: squares.s - Assembly: strlen function by Yi Chen	(Due Tue 5/30) Homework 1 - prog.c - C debug guide - Tool intro
8	Wed 5/31	Combinational logic	Sec 4.1-4.2, B.1-B.3, B.5. basic_logic_ev.circ	R03. Assembly programming with SPIM, continued
9	Thu 6/1	Sequential logic, Finite state machines	Sec B.7-B.11, combo_lock_ev.circ	R03. Assembly programming with SPIM, part 2 - Assembly: sum function by Maverick Chung    - Solution: foo_function.s - C to MIPS 2: caller saved registers    - Code: squares-with-call.c    - Solution: squares-callersaved.s - C to MIPS 3: callee-saved registers    - Solution: squares-calleesaved.s - Updated recusion example from Jerry Wang
10	Mon 6/5	Datapath design	Sec 4.3-4.4, 4.9
11	Tue 6/6	Datapath design	Sec 4.3-4.4, 4.9	R04. Digital design with Logisim	(Due Tue 6/6) Homework 2 - prog_part.c - MIPS debug guide - Structs - Data structures - Calling conventions - strlen - Loop/sort tips - Data+breakpoints
12	Wed 6/7	Memory hierarchy and caches (After class) Midterm review session   Bring questions!	Sec 5.1-5.5	R05. Using Logisim for larger projects, part 1
13	Thu 6/8	MIDTERM EXAM	- Practice midterm   (blank version) - Live solutions - Provided reference sheet - Study guide	R05. Using Logisim for larger projects, part 2 - FSM walkthrough with Andy He
14	Mon 6/12	Caches	Sec 5.1-5.5		(Due Mon 6/12) Homework 3 - Logisim debug guide - Logisim tips   ^ Video shows older Logisim,       but it's still valid
15	Tue 6/13	Caches	Sec 5.1-5.5	R06. Register file and ALU, part 1
16	Wed 6/14	Virtual Memory	Sec 5.6-5.9	R06. Register file and ALU, continued
17	Thu 6/15	I/O	Sec A.8	R06. Register file and ALU, part 2 - input_output.circ
	Mon 6/19	Juneteenth holiday (no class)
18	Tue 6/20	Pipelined cores	Sec 4.5-end	R07. Caching and virtual memory, part 1	(Due Tue 6/20) Homework 4 - TA Guide to HW4 - Processor tips guide - Logisim Evolution - HW4 tool intro - Logisim tips - ALU/Control tips - Tracing/debugging - TTY/Keyboard tips - Dramatic intro (alt)
19	Wed 6/21	Multicore	Chapter 6	R07. Caching and virtual memory, part 1, continued
20	Thu 6/22	Intel x86	Example code Intel developer manual (pages 1..3908)	R07. Caching and virtual memory, part 2 R08. Pipeline exercises R09. Free exploration (time allowing) - memdance.c
21	Mon 6/26	Final exam review session   Bring questions!			(Due Mon 6/26) Homework 5 - Virt2phys intro - Cachesim intro - Cachesim example - Cachesim Guide
	Wed 6/28	FINAL EXAM, 2pm-5pm	Study guide Practice final Reference sheet Live solutions		(Due Thu 6/29 at 8am, *optional*)   No late deadline Extra credit - Executable files

Syllabus & policies

Course synopsis

Computer structure, machine language, instruction execution, addressing techniques, and digital representation of data. Computer systems organization, logic design, microprogramming, and interpreters. Symbolic coding and assembly systems.

Prerequisite: Computer Science 201 or consent of instructor.

Grading breakdown

This course will require readings from the textbook, problem sets, programming assignments, and digital logic design. Grading breakdown:

Category	%
Homework	55%
Midterm exam	15%
Final exam	25%
Recitation	5%

Homework grading

You are expected to complete the homework individually unless otherwise stated. However, you may discuss topics covered in the class.

Late homework submissions incur penalties as follows:

• Submission is 0-24 hours late: total score is multiplied by 0.9
• Submission is 24-48 hours late: total score is multiplied by 0.8
• Submission is more than 48 hours late: total score is multiplied by the Planck constant (as measured in J·s)

For assignments that split writing and coding answers, this above applies to the entire assignment (i.e., code and written together). The later of the two submit times is used for this.

NOTE: If you feel in advance that you may need an extension, contact the instructor. We can work with you if you see a scheduling problem coming, but extensions cannot be granted at or near the due date!

Your homework grade will be based on what you submit to Sakai and when you submit it. The common excuses listed below will be rejected for the reasons shown:

Excuse	Thing you could have done which invalidates excuse
My internet was slow or flaky so my submission was late.	Submit with plenty of margin. There's no reason the assignment can't be submitted HOURS OR DAYS in advance.
I meant to submit, but I forgot to click the submit button.	After submission, leave and re-visit the submission page to make double-sure your file is uploaded properly.
My computer broke and I lost my work!	It's the modern era. Use one of the dozens of data mirroring or backup services: Dropbox, Google Drive, Box (free at Duke!), Crashplan, or just good old fashioned local backups. You should be able to set your laptop on fire and lose zero bytes of work.
I submitted the wrong file, let me send you the right file!	After submission, re-download your files from Sakai to verify it's correct. Test it from scratch to ensure it's what you expect.
One tiny thing was wrong, and I can fix it! Let me get a regrade!	The time to find those bugs is before submission. When you've built your program/circuit, you're not done...that's when testing begins! Test your solution under a variety of conditions. See here for a primer on software testing.
I didn't understand the requirements, let me fix my program and get a regrade!	If you're the slightest bit unsure if your program meets the requirements, ask for clarification in lecture, recitation, or the Ed forum. If you're worried your submission won't pass our testing, run through it with a TA or the instructor.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but this is the part of your academic career where we build individual competence, and as in the real world, oversights can be costly.

Recitation grading

Recitation is where you'll learn concrete skills to complement the lecture's theoretical material, and is essential. Recitation grading works as follows:

• Attendance at recitation is expected. Students attending and making good faith effort will receive full credit for the day.

Grade appeals

All regrade requests must be in writing. Email the TAs with your questions. After speaking with the TAs, if you still have concerns, contact the instructor

All regrade requests must be submitted to the instructor no later than 1 week after the assignment was returned to you.

Academic integrity

I take academic integrity extremely seriously. Academic misconduct will not be tolerated, and all suspected violations of the Duke Undergraduate Honor Code will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. A student found responsible for academic dishonesty faces formal disciplinary action, which may include suspension. A student twice suspended automatically faces a minimum 5-year separation from Duke University.

In addition to the measures taken by the Office of Student Conduct, the affected assignment(s) will receive zero credit, or possibly -100% in egregious cases.

If you are considering this course of action, please see me instead, and we can work something out! I want every student in my course to be successful.

Resources

• Recordings of this course's lectures:
  • Tyler Bletsch: Fall 2021 - See video description to jump to lecture start time.
  • Dan Sorin: Spring 2019
  • Dan Sorin: Spring 2016
• Remote access to Linux machines.
  
  • We will use the Duke OIT Linux machines for portions of this course. Please read this document on how to remotely access these machines.
• Unix Tutorial
  
  • You should also go through this short tutorial on Linux.
• File Access
  
  • You can use CIFS to access the files in your home directory. Please see the OIT general documentation on CIFS as well as tutorials for Windows or Mac.
• Tools -- Text Editors
  
  • nedit and gedit are a fairly simple GUI-based editors on the Linux machines.
  • If you want to become a more sophisticated user of Linux editors you can explore gvim, vim, or emacs on your own.
  • Alternately, you can use a local text editor and save files over CIFS or SFTP. For example, Notepad++ on Windows includes an SFTP plugin.
• C Programming Language
  
  • A full Coursera course on C by Prof. Drew Hilton.
  • Dr. Bletsch's "C and Software Tools" course from NC State -- has lots of C programming resources
  • Video snippets by Prof Drew Hilton (Duke ECE)
  • This is an MIT OpenCourseWare set of lectures that does a good job of covering the basics for C programming.
• C Programming Examples
  
  • C Memory Layout Example array as list
    
  • C Bit Manipulation bit manipulation of Hex to extract float fields or for a float input with casting via pointers extract float fields from float input .
• Tools -- Compilers (gcc)
  
  • Compilation: gcc -o newApp test.c
  • Generate compile time warnings: gcc -Wall test.c
  • Include debug symbols into the application: gcc -g -o newApp test.c
  • Introduction to gcc
• Tools -- Debugger (gdb)
  
  • Documentation
  • GDB essentials
  • Quick reference card (annotated version with most useful commands highlighted)
• MIPS Instructions
  
  • Assemblers, Linkers, and the SPIM Simulator (PDF).
  • A two page MIPS quick reference guide from MIPS is here.
  • A three page document from me with MIPS instructions is here.
• SPIM: A MIPS32 Simulator
  
  • Download the appropriate binary for your platform from the SPIM web site.
• Assembly Programming Examples
  
  • sum = sum + i*i is here.
  • sum array is here.
  • recursive sum array is here.
  • recursive sum i*i is here.
• Logic Design Online Book
  
  • Pragmatic Logic by William J. Eccles
• Logic Design Tool
  
  • Logisim is a convenient tool that runs on any platform (Mac, Windows, Linux). You will use Logisim to design and test circuits. Click through the download links until you arrive at the sourceforge.net site and then look for the green download button. Click download and it should autodetect your system so you get the right version.
• Caches and Virtual Memory
  
  • Caching and virtual memory calculator spreadsheet
  • Cache Interaction Policies with Main Memory by Gurpur Prabhu at Iowa State -- discusses why write-back/write-allocate and write-through/write-no-allocate usually go together.
  • Paging notes by Trek Palmer at UMass -- a good summary of the topic (mirrored locally).