Home Page of Advanced Computer Architecture -- AVDARK 2013
This course is the most advanced computer architecture course taught at Uppsala. The goal is to give a good understanding of how modern computers are build, and above all, why they are built that way and how your can leverage this in your applications The responsible teacher has a background from academia and industry; from Sweden and the US; and, from hardware projects as well as software startups.
This year, I will start using the Flipped Classroom teaching style and will have most lectures on-line, complemented with 11 classroom lectures/exercises.
Important
If you have not received an Email from me, that implies that you either are not registered for this course or that your registration does not include a valid Email address. Please get registered asap (or contact me)! You will also need to sign up for the Scalable-learning site where the on-line lectures and other resources are available as well as the Piazza forum, where slides are placed and course information is spread.
Origin
This is a new extended version of the Computer Architecture 2 (Dark2) course. It earns you 10p (instead of the 7.5 or 4.5 as Dark2 did). The scope is deeper than Dark2 and two new labs have been added.
Pronounciation
AVDARK comes from its Swedish course name (Avancerad Datorarkitektur) and is pronounced "Ave Dark!" -- the way Julius Ceasar would have said it.
Mandatory Assignments
There are four lab assignments that all participants have to complete before a hard deadline. Completing the labs, including an extra bonus assignment, during the scheduled lab occasion will earn you extra bonus points for the exam.
Optional Assignments
There are four (optional) hand-in assignments: Memory, Multiprocessors, Scalability and CPUs. Each hand-in consists of a handful questions and exercises you should solve on you own at home. You will get extra bonus points on the exam for each hand-in that is completed [with a reasonable accuracy] before the announced hard deadlines.
Why bonus points
Forcing yourself to study during the course and to come well prepared to the labs have been proven much better than just study until you drop the week before the exam. It enables you to learn more from the lectures and the labs thougout the course and results in more long-lasting knowledge. The bonus system will hopefully encourage you to read and prepare more actively during the course.
Literature
Computer Architecture A Quantitative Approach Hennessy/Pattersson Morgan Kaufmann 5th edition [optional]
Examination
Written exam at the end of the course. No books are allowed. Collecting all the lab and hand-in bonus point will guarantee a pass degree at the exam.
Lecturer
Erik Hagersten gives most lectures and is responsible for the course.
Andreas Sembrant and Mahdad Davari are responsible for the labs and the hand-ins.
Sverker Holmgren will teach parallel programming.
David Black-Schaffer will teach about graphics processors, so-called GPUs.