News

• 2005-02-04: The final exams can be inspected in RZ H 18 until the end of February (weekdays, 9-12 a.m.)
• 2005-02-03: The scores of the CA and SP finals have been copied to the AFS submission directories. You can find them in file /afs/ethz.ch/users/y/ysu/sysprog-04/exercise/<group>/exam/<login>/grade.final
• 2005-01-19: A few comments on the exam and grading.
• 2005-01-15: There is no lecture on Feb 4, this time is used for the final in "Theoretische Informatik".
• 2005-01-14: The exams will take place on 1/24 (CA) and 1/27 (SP).
• 2005-01-03: If you want to have a look at your midterm exam you can come to office RZ H 18 and ask Ms. Hidalgo or Ms. Sommer. This is possible until January 21, 2005.
• 2004-12-24: Have a nice holiday break! Your 051/053 Team.
• 2004-12-22: The scores of the CA midterm have been copied to the AFS submission directories. You can find them in file /afs/ethz.ch/users/y/ysu/sysprog-04/exercise/<group>/exam/<login>/grade.midterm
• 2004-12-22: Since there are 2 others exams scheduled for the last week of class, we plan to move the Computer Architecture exam to Monday Jan 24 and the System Programming exam to Thursday Jan 27 . The dates will be fixed by Friday Jan 14 . Sorry for this change; if you object then we stick with the original plan.
• 2004-12-10: Assignment 5: "archlab-handout.tar" with the bug in the correctness checking script and the ISA simulator 'yis-db' been fixed is now online.
• 2004-12-09: The deadline for assignment 5 has been postponed to Dec 20.
  A bug was discovered in the correctness checking script. A fixed version will be available by Saturday. You can still check the correctness of your optimized code by looking at the simulator output.
  
  
• 2004-12-08: Assignment 5, part B: To receive credit here, your solution must be correct.
  
  Correctness: To check the correctness, you can use the script correctness.pl. It generates driver files with block lengths from 1 up to some limit (default 64), simulates them with yis-db, and checks the results. It also generates a report showing the status for each block length. Usage: ./correctness.pl -f ncopy.ys
  
  Performance: Use benchmark.pl to check the performance.
  
  Grading:
  1. Your program has to be correct.
  2. You have to reach a CPE of at least 17.5, but values below 12.0 are possible.
  3. The lower the CPE, the more points you will get.


• 2004-12-07: Assignment 5: archlab-handout.tar updated: A script to check the correctness (sim/pipe/correctness.pl) and a pipelined version of ISA simulator (sim/misc/yis-db) have been added into the tar package. You can use them in part B to test your code on a range of block lengths automatically (run ./correctness.pl -f ncopy.ys in sim/pipe/ ).
• 2004-12-03: Corrected mistake in Assignment 5; 1.Part A, fixed bugs in sim/seq/example.c; 2.Evaluation for Part A (page 9), the expected max. element returned in %eax is 0xc00.
• 2004-11-28: The midterm exam on Dec 10 is closed book and closed notes. The split between Computer Architecture and System Programming is according to the schedule below. However, those parts of Computer Architecture that are needed to understand System Programming (and vice versa) can also appear on the System Programming exam. (For example, addressing modes could appear in both exams.) Material covered by Nov 29 will be tested.
• 2004-11-28: Those who ordered the book can pick up their copy after class on Thursday (Dec 2nd)
• 2004-11-22: Hw4 has been posted (Sorry for the delay but my afs files were unreachable most of the afternoon).
• 2004-11-22: The rules for assignments are repeated here. If you did not follow the rules in the past, you must inform your TA by 11/29.
• 2004-11-17: The grading was explained to all students in a message. If you lost it, or you enrolled late, here is a copy . Both exams count 25%.
• 2004-11-12: If you want to order a copy of Bryant/O'Hallaron "Computer Systems", please send an email message to "Computer Systems", please send an email message to hiruth at inf.ethz.ch by Wednesday Nov 17, 2004 . The cost of the book is sFr 110.00. If you order the book you must also pay for it.
• 2004-11-10: Assignment 2: Now you can submit to the DATALAB CONTEST! See http://so.inf.ethz.ch/datalab/index.html for instructions and results!
• 2004-11-09: For computer rooms at the D-INFK, please use this binary of dlc.
• 2004-11-08: We still try to figure out how much the book will cost if we place a bulk order. Watch this space for details.
• 2004-11-04: No lecture today.
• 2004-11-04: Please submit your solution to Assignment 1 also to the directory u1. If you have already submitted, we will move it or you resubmit it.
• 2004-11-01: Corrected mistake in Assignment 1; Question 1-c asks for the 6-bit signed result.
• 2004-10-29: Updated handouts, posted extra slides from 10-28.
• 2004-10-25: No recitation group today.
• 2004-10-21: Please register for a recitation group at http://www.prs.ethz.ch.
• 2004-10-21: Welcome! We will discuss the organization and structure of the class.

Course overview

This course provides an overview of "computer architecture" as a platform for the execution of (compiled) computer programs. The course introduces the major structures that have direct influence on the execution of programs (processors with registers, caches, other levels of the memory hierarchy) and covers implementation and representation issues only to the extend that they are necessary to understand the structure and operation of a computer system. The course covers the basics of performance evaluation (with a focus on the practical aspects of data collection and analysis).

This course does NOT cover how to design or build a processor or computer. Students are advised to take the course in concurrently with "System-level Programming". Students are expected to have a basic knowledge of statistics and probability theory.

Topics include

• Execution of instructions
• Memory hierarchy
• Representation issues
• OS interface
• Performance evaluation

Course schedule

• This course meets in HG F5 every Friday 10:15-11:55.

Assistants and groups

All groups meet Monday 13:15 -- 15:00.

Schedule of lectures

Schedule of assignments

List of computer rooms with Linux installed

• computer rooms of D-INFK: IFW C31, IFW D31, HRS F8
• computer rooms of ETH: HG D13, HG E26.1

Reading material

• Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective (CS:APP), Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron, Prentice Hall, 2003, ISBN 0-13-034074-X. Highly recommended.
• The C Programming Language (2nd edition), Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, Prentice Hall, 1988, ISBN 0131103628.
• C: A Reference Manual (4th or 5th edition), Samuel P. Harbison and Guy L. Steele, Prentice Hall; 1994 ISBN 0133262243.
• Intel publishes a lot of material covering the IA32/Pentium processors. The official web site for Pentium4 documentation is here, a few manuals are cached locally.