All reading assignments, except the Background Material listed for the first assignment, are in the text for the course, Computer Organization and Design, Third Edition by D. Patterson and J. Hennessy (Morgan Kaufmann, 2004). The third edition is quite different from earlier ones, so be sure to get the right one.
The first printing of the book has quite a few typographical and other errors (“errata”). Some of these might have been corrected in successive printings. The companion web site for the book has an “official” errata list, but I suggest you also use my list of errata for the book. Go through the errata lists and write in all the needed changes in your copy of the book before you start studying.
| Topic | Reading Assignments |
|---|---|
| Review of Assembly Language and Combinational Logic | CS-343 Background Material
Chapters 1 and 2. Appendix B, Sections B.1 through B.6 |
| Sequential Logic | Appendix B, Sections B.7 through B.13 |
| ALU Design and Implementation | Chapter 3, Sections 3.1 through 3.6 |
| First Exam | A copy of last semester’s first exam will be available in the restricted part of this semester’s web site. |
| Processor Performance | Chapter 4. |
| Datapath and Control | Chapter 5. |
| Pipelining | Chapter 6, Sections 6.1 through 6.6. |
| Second Exam | A copy of last semester’s second exam will be available in the restricted part of this semester’s web site. |
| Memory Hierarchy | Chapter 7, Sections 7.1 through 7.5. |
| Storage and I/O | Chapter 8, Sections 8.1, 8.2, and 8.4 through 8.6. |
| Final Exam | A copy of last semester’s final exam will be available in the restricted part of this semester’s web site. |