Educational guide
IDENTIFYING DATA 2023_24
Subject COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE Code 00709020
Study programme
0709 - GRADO EN INGENIERÍA INFORMÁTICA
Descriptors Credit. Type Year Period
6 Compulsory Second Second
Language
Castellano
Ingles
Prerequisites
Department ING.MECANICA,INFORMAT.AEROESP.
Coordinador
RIEGO DEL CASTILLO , VIRGINIA
E-mail vriec@unileon.es
dmartm@unileon.es
Lecturers
MARTINEZ MARTINEZ , DAVID
RIEGO DEL CASTILLO , VIRGINIA
Web http://agora.unileon.es
General description Computer architecture, parallelism, multiprocessors
Tribunales de Revisión
Tribunal titular
Cargo Departamento Profesor
Presidente ING.MECANICA,INFORMAT.AEROESP. MATELLAN OLIVERA , VICENTE
Secretario ING.MECANICA,INFORMAT.AEROESP. SANCHEZ GONZALEZ , LIDIA
Vocal ING.MECANICA,INFORMAT.AEROESP. PANIZO ALONSO , LUIS
Tribunal suplente
Cargo Departamento Profesor
Presidente ING.MECANICA,INFORMAT.AEROESP. FERNANDEZ LLAMAS , CAMINO
Secretario ING.MECANICA,INFORMAT.AEROESP. RODRIGUEZ DE SOTO , ADOLFO
Vocal GUERRERO HIGUERAS , ANGEL MANUEL

Competencias
Code  
A18102
B5613
B5614
B5615
B5619
B5620
B5623
B5624
B5625
B5626
B5631
C2 CMECES2 That students know how to apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional manner and possess the skills that are usually demonstrated through the development and defense of arguments and the resolution of problems within their area of study.
C4 CMECES4 That students can transmit information, ideas, problems and solutions to both a specialised and non-specialised audience

Learning aims
Competences
To know and understand computers architecture fundamentals and also their main components A18102
 B5624
B5625
 C2
C4
To know and apply methodologies and tools to estimate and compare computers performance A18102
 B5614
B5619
B5623
B5625
B5626
B5631
A18102
 B5615
A18102
 B5620
 C4
B5613
B5614
B5623

Contents
Topic Sub-topic
Block I. FUNDAMENTALS OF QUANTITATIVE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS ARCHITECTURES
Basics about computers architectures, classes of computers, computers architectures evolution.

Chapter 2. TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY, POWER, ENERGY AND COST
Main issues that have been evolving with computer architectures and constrain their performance.

Chapter 3. DEPENDABILITY AND PERFORMANCE
Different factors that affect to dependability and performance and how to measure them.
Block II. PARALELLISIM Chapter 1. PIPELINING
Introduction to the integer datapath, floating point datapath and pipelining performance.

Chapter 2. PIPELINING HAZARDS
Different type of hazards and how to avoid them and reduce their impact.

Chapter 3. INSTRUCTION LEVEL PARALELLISM (ILP)
Basic concepts, superpipelining and superescalar processors.
Block III. MEMORY HIERARCHIES Chapter 1. MEMORY HIERARCHIES BASICS
Basic concepts, Information Replication, Asociativity and Performance.

Chapter 2. CACHÉS PERFORMANCE
Main indicators and algorithms in cache performance.

Chapter 3. CACHÉ OPTIMIZATIONS
Different issues related with how to improve cachés and the performance impact.
Block IV. MULTIPROCESSORS AND PARALELLISM Chapter 1. MULTIPROCESSORS INTRODUCTION
Main concepts about multiprocessors and parallelism in this context and the main open challenges regarding this topic.

Chapter 2. CENTRALIZED SHARED MEMORY ARCHITECTURE
Main concepts about this type of architectures, coherence and consistency problems and algorithms and performance indicators.

Chapter 3. DISTRIBUTED SHARED-MEMORY AND DIRECTORY-BASED COHERENCE
Main concepts about this approach, coherence and how consistency and coherence problems are addressed by using directory protocols.

Planning
Methodologies  ::  Tests
  Class hours Hours outside the classroom Total hours
Problem solving, classroom exercises 12 18 30
 
Laboratory practicals 28 56 84
Personal tuition 1 0 1
 
Lecture 16 16 32
 
Extended-answer tests 3 0 3
 
(*)The information in the planning table is for guidance only and does not take into account the heterogeneity of the students.

Methodologies
Methodologies   ::  
  Description
Problem solving, classroom exercises Formulation, analysis, resolution and debate of a problem or exercise related to the topic of the subject.
Laboratory practicals Practical application of the theory of a knowledge area in a particular context. Practical exercises in the different laboratories.
Personal tuition Time that each teacher has to speak to pupils and resolve their doubts.
Lecture Description of the contents of the subject.

Personalized attention
 
Laboratory practicals
Problem solving, classroom exercises
Lecture
Personal tuition
Extended-answer tests
Description
The teacher will speak to the students and solve their doubts both, in his office and at the web's forum.

Assessment
  Description Qualification
Laboratory practicals Lab assignments must work properly, and the students might be required to do some exams in order to probe they did their own work. 30%
Problem solving, classroom exercises The student will have to solve several exercises during the semester. There will be a deadline for each exercise. 20%
Extended-answer tests Exams which will include essay questions and problems. 50%
 
Other comments and second call

The marks assigned to the exercises given during the semester will be that of one of them, chosen randomly. All the assignments must be submitted before the deadlines.

Lab assignments will consist in developing software and must be finished in due times, and the students have to pass every single one. The lecturer will choose the assessment methodology for each lab assignment .

To pass this subject, it is required that the student gets a minimum of 50% the maximum qualification in both, the lab assignments and in the exams. The sum of all the qualifications must be at least 50%.

The second call will consist in a written exam only, being its mark added to those obtained during the semester for the lab assignments and the exercises.

Sources of information
Access to Recommended Bibliography in the Catalog ULE

Basic J.L. Hennessy; D.A. Patterson., Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 6th Ed, Morgan-Kaufmann,

Complementary D. Sima, T. Fountain & P. Kacsuk , Advanced Computer Architecture: A Design Space Approach , Addison-Wesley ,
K. Hwang , Advanced Computer Architecture: Parallelism, Scalability, Programability , Mc.Graw-Hill ,
J. Ortega, M. Anguita & A. Prieto , Arquitectura de Computadores , Thomson ,
J. Sánchez , jercicios y Exámenes de Estructura y Tecnología de Computadores III , Estudios de la UNED ,


Recommendations


Subjects that it is recommended to have taken before
COMPUTER PROGRAMMING I / 00709009