Time:
Mon & Wed 5:30-6:45 PM
Location
MP 010
Text:
Computer Architecture: A Quantitative
Approach, Patterson & Hennessy, 2nd
edition.
Professor:
Office hours:
M 4-5 PM, Tu 5-6 PM
Office:
222 ECS
TA:
Office hours:
W 6:45-7:30 PM, Th 3-4 PM
Most of the course material (including assignments and scheduling) will be kept on the World-Wide Web at "http://www.cs.umbc.edu/courses/graduate/611/fall96/." You should check this WWW page on a regular basis for changes to schedules and homework assignments. I'll announce them in class, but you're responsible for knowing about changes even if you miss class.
The term project is a major part of this graduate class on computer architecture. However, learning to work with others and documenting your work are just as important as the technical content. You must be part of a 2-3 person project group unless you have a good reason to work alone (in which case, please see me).
Your group may pick its project topic from a list of suggestions that will be handed out in class, or you may choose your own topic. Anything related to computer architecture could become a project, but it should involve some implementation, design, or analysis - merely summarizing existing work in an area is not a project, though verifying previously published claims with your own experiment may be OK. Either way, you'll have to do some library research on your topic to get a basic grounding in the material. I encourage you to pick projects that you (and the rest of your group) find interesting, since those are the ones that are easiest to work on.
To insure progress throughout the semester, your project will have several milestones. Some of these milestones will consist solely of handing in a brief (no more than 1-2 page) progress report. Other milestones will include both a brief report and a short (10 minute) meeting with me. At these meetings, you'll have an opportunity to discuss any project-related issues that might have come up, or any difficulties you anticipate having. While these milestones shouldn't (of themselves) require lots of time, they will guarantee that your group isn't stuck doing an entire project in the last week of the semester. Milestones will not be graded except as part of the project as a whole. However, groups not satisfactorily meeting milestone dates will lose points from their final project grade.
All groups will present their project results to the rest of the class in a short (10 - 15 minute) presentation during the last week of classes. Each group must also hand in a written report on their project. This report should be 3500 - 5000 words long, or 8 to 10 single-spaced pages. It should describe the problem, cover sufficient background material so that others can understand the project, and describe both the project and results in detail. In short, it should resemble a conference paper in both length and scope. A sample project report (yes, this paper started as a class project) is available online. As you can see, it's certainly possible for some particularly interesting and well-done projects to lead to published papers, perhaps with some additional work.
There will be two midterms and a final exam. The midterms will be given in class, and the final will be given during the appropriate exam week time slot. Each midterm will count for 30% of the overall exam grade, and the final (which will be cumulative) will count for 40% of the overall exam grade. If you know you'll be unable to attend an exam, please make arrangements in advance. If you miss an exam without making arrangements, you must provide a note (doctor, funeral director, etc.) to take a makeup.
The exams are open book and open note, and the use of a calculator is very strongly encouraged. Please bring your textbook to the exam, since the exam may use graphs or other material from the text. While you may use many sources during the exam, you may not use other people in the class. Cheating on exams will be dealt with severely.
There will be a set of homework problems assigned about every other week. These problems may come from the book or from problems listed online. However, you can always get a copy of any homework assignment from the CMSC 611 main page. If you miss a class, you should check to see if a homework was assigned.
Homework is due at the start of class on the due date; any homework handed in more than 15 minutes after the start of that class will be considered one day late. Because the class moves quickly, homework will only be accepted up to 3 days late. Late homework, which will lose 15% of its original value for each day late, should be left either in my mailbox or in the bin on my door. You're welcome (and encouraged) to hand in homework by e-mail in either plain text or PostScript.
You may work alone or with a single partner on your homework. You are allowed at most one partner over the course of the semester unless your partner withdraws from the class (i.e., you c an't switch partners midway through the class), so choose wisely.... You may discuss general concepts with others in the class, but you may not discuss particular homework problems with anyone but your homework partner. Plagiarism of homework will result in at least a zero grade on that homework for all involved students, and more serious action may be taken at the discretion of the instructor.
Your grade will be based on the term project (37%), exams (40%),
homework (20%), and class participation (3%). You must take
all of the exams and hand in a project in order to pass the class;
failure to do so will result in an F grade. While you need not do all
of the homeworks, the zeros from missing assignments can adversely
affect your grade. Incompletes will not be given except in
extraordinary circumstances. The grading scale is:
|
Grade |
Points |
|---|---|
|
A |
88 - 100 |
|
B |
78 - 87 |
|
C |
68 - 77 |
|
D |
60 - 67 |
|
F |
0 - 59 |