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Cpt_S 260: Lecture 1: Introduction

• This week’s topics:

logistics information technology trends (new applications) why computer architecture? modern trends affecting processor design assessing computer performance

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Logistics

• See class web-page http://eecs.wsu.edu/~hassan/cs260

• TA: – Yuchen Hou (houych@gmail.com)– Office: Sloan 330– Office hours: Tuesday & Thursday 12:50pm to 2:50pm

• Textbook: Computer Organization – HW/SW Interface, Patterson and Hennessy, 4rd edition

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Course Organization

• Grading• 15% midterm1 (late September)• 20% midterm2 (late October)• 30% final• 35% assignments

• See class web site for tests exact date/location

• ~10 assignments – assignments due at the start of class (either paper or electronic)

• Co-operation policy: you may discuss – you may not see someone else’s written matter when writing your solution

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Computer Revolution

• Smart phones• Smart watches• Smart cars• Smart homes• Google glass• Wearable sensor networks• Genome sequencing• Internet• Search Engines• Future glass technologies

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZkHpNnXLB0

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Embedded Processors Evolution

• 91% of adults have a cell phone today! (according to PEW project survey)

• Embedded processors are becoming part of our everyday life

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Why Computer Architecture?

• Yes, I know, required class…

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Why Computer Organization

• Embarrassing if you are a BS in CS and can’t make sense of the following terms: DRAM, pipelining, cache hierarchies, I/O, virtual memory

• Embarrassing if you are a BS in CS and can’t decide which processor to buy: 3 GHz P4 or 2.5 GHz Athlon (helps us reason about performance/power)

• Obvious first step for chip designers, compiler/OS writers

• Will knowledge of the hardware help me write better programs?

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Must a Programmer Care About Hardware?

• Memory management: if we understand how/where data is placed, we can help ensure that relevant data is nearby

• Thread management: if we understand how threads interact, we can write smarter multi-threaded programs

Why do we care about multi-threaded programs?