Spring 2026: CS/ECE 3810 Computer Organization

General Information:

Grading:

The following is a tentative guideline and may undergo changes. Your total score for the semester will be a weighted sum of your midterm exam 1 (20%), midterm exam 2 (20%), final exam (40%), and homeworks (20%). Your class rank (on the total score) will determine your final letter grade. Typically, the top 32% of students in this class receive A or A-, the next 40% of students receive B+, B, or B-, the next 15% of students receive C+, C, or C-. About 13% of students receive grades of D+ and lower. The exams will allow a single sheet of notes for reference; basic calculators will be allowed; phones or internet-enabled devices will NOT be allowed. There will be approximately 10 assignments. We have zero tolerance for cheating. TAs will be on the lookout for solution sets that appear very similar. You may use generative AI tools like ChatGPT and NotebookLM to help you learn the material (beware, these tools hallucinate occasionally). It is not ok to use these tools to generate your homework solutions. Solving the homeworks unassisted, after you've mastered the material, is very good practice for your exams. If your class rank in the assignments is significantly different from your class rank in the exams, only your rank in the exams will count towards your grade. We know you're juggling multiple activities and the assignment deadline may not always be favorable. I also anticipate students may be affected by illnesses, weddings, and travel within their immediate family. You are therefore allowed to skip two assignments -- use these freebies prudently. To be fair to the rest of the class, no exceptions to this rule will be made. Late submissions will not be graded. HW 4 offers extra credit, so try not to skip HW 4.

Cheating policy:

Working with others on assignments is a good way to learn the material and is encouraged. However, there are limits to the degree of cooperation that is permitted. Students may discuss among themselves the meaning of homework problems and possible approaches to solving them. Any written portion of an assignment, however, is to be done strictly on an individual basis. Note the Kahlert School of Computing's Academic Misconduct Policy. BOTTOM LINE: You may not copy from another student or from any other source, and you may not allow another student to copy your work!! You may not use AI tools to generate your homework solutions. You may not violate any of the exam instructions. Any violation of the above rules is considered to be cheating and will result in a reduced or a failing grade in the class. TAs will be on the lookout for solution sets that appear very similar. Also, if your class rank in the assignments is significantly different from your class rank in the exams, only your rank in the exams will count towards your final grade.

Best Practices

YouTube screencasts for every lecture have already been posted below. Some of you may learn better by watching these videos before the lecture; others may prefer to watch videos after the lecture. Both approaches are fine -- you may want to try them both to see which works better. Most students additionally watch the videos to prepare for homeworks and exams. The (optional) textbook is a fun read, but can be verbose and detail-oriented at times. You may want to read relevant sections after the lecture/videos to consolidate your understanding of the concepts. I will not be recording in-class lectures. If you happen to miss the in-class lecture, I recommend watching the YouTube videos to catch up.

I will use Canvas regularly for various class announcements. Please feel free to use Piazza or Canvas discussion forums to get your doubts clarified. Note that homework uploads will be on Gradescope.

The following lecture schedule is tentative. Updated lecture slides will be posted on the evening/morning before the lecture. If you like taking notes on paper, your best bet is to print the slides just before class (preferably, 4/6 slides per page so we save some trees).

School of Computing Guidelines

The undergraduate handbooks are listed at the link above, and include a wealth of pertinent information.

College Guidelines

The link above contains details on Appeals, Add/Drop/Withdrawals/Repeats, ADA Accommodations, and Safety.

Homework Assignments:

Assignments will be posted here (almost) weekly. The schedule of assignments below is tentative. The deadline for assignments will typically be the start of class on Tuesday or Thursday. In all cases, you will turn in responses on Gradescope. All assignments will have an automatic 1.5 day penalty-free extension; beyond that, you will not be able to upload your submissions. There will be roughly 10 assignments, of which you are allowed to skip two (in other words, we will drop the lowest two scores among your 10 assignments). HW 4 will offer extra credit.

Video Playlist on YouTube

Nicer playlist created by a 3810 student

Class Schedule

Date Lecture Topic Slides Reading Videos Assignment Due
Tue, Jan 6 Introduction to Computer Organization. ppt ; pdf Chapt 1 1 ; 2  
Thu, Jan 8 Measuring Performance. ppt ; pdf Chapt 1 3 ; 4  
Tue, Jan 13 Performance, Power, MIPS ISA intro. ppt ; pdf Chapt 2 5 ; 6 ; 7  
Thu, Jan 15 More MIPS ISA. ppt ; pdf Chapt 2 8 ; 9 ; 10 Homework 1
Tue, Jan 20 Control Instructions, Procedures. ppt ; pdf Chapt 2; Notes 11 ; 12  
Thu, Jan 22 Assembly Programs. ppt ; pdf Chapt 2, App A 13 ; 14  
Tue, Jan 27 Examples, MARS. ppt ; pdf Chapt 2, App A. MARS notes 15 ; 16 ; 17 Homework 2
Thu, Jan 29 Number Systems. ppt ; pdf Chapt 3. 18 ; 19 ; 20  
Tue, Feb 3 Addition, Multiplication, Division. ppt ; pdf Chapt 3 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24 ; 25 ; 26 Homework 3
Thu, Feb 5 Floating Point Representations & Operations. ppt ; pdf Chapt 3 27 ; 28  
Tue, Feb 10 Floating Point, Digital Design. ppt ; pdf Chapt 3, App B 29 ; 30 ; 31 ; 32  
Thu, Feb 12 Digital Design, Adder Circuits. ppt ; pdf App B 33 ; 34 ; 35 Homework 4
Tue, Feb 17 Mid-term Exam 1   Chapt 1-2, App A, lectures    
Thu, Feb 19 Adders. ppt ; pdf App B 36 ; 37 ; 38 ; 39  
Tue, Feb 24 Sequential Circuits, FSMs. ppt ; pdf App B Notes 40 ; 41 ; 42 ; 43 Homework 5
Thu, Feb 26 CPU Organization and Design. ppt ; pdf Chapt 4 44 ; 45 ; 46  
Tue, Mar 3 Pipelining. ppt ; pdf Chapt 4 47 ; 48 ; 49 Homework 6
Thu, Mar 5 Pipelining Hazards. ppt ; pdf Chapt 4; Notes 50 ; 51 ; 52  
Tue, Mar 10 SPRING BREAK        
Thu, Mar 12 SPRING BREAK        
Tue, Mar 17 Data Hazard Examples. ppt ; pdf Chapt 4 53 ; 54 ; 55  
Thu, Mar 19 Control Hazards. ppt ; pdf Chapt 4 56 ; 57 ; 58 ; 59 Homework 7
Tue, Mar 24 Out of Order Processors. ppt ; pdf Chapt 4 60 ; 61  
Thu, Mar 26 Cache Hierarchies. ppt ; pdf Chapt 5; Notes 62 ; 63 ; 64 ; 65 ; 66 ; 67 Homework 8
Tue, Mar 31 Mid-term Exam 2   Chapt 3-4, App B, lectures    
Thu, Apr 2 Cache examples. ppt ; pdf Chapt 5 68 ; 69  
Tue, Apr 7 Caching, Memory systems, Security. ppt ; pdf Chapt 5 70 ; Meltdown ; Spectre  
Thu, Apr 9 Security, Multiprocessors. ppt ; pdf Chapt 5; Notes 73 ; 74 ; 75 ; 76 Homework 9
Tue, Apr 14 Synchronization, Consistency, Virtual Memory. ppt ; pdf Chapt 6 77 ; 71 ; 72  
Thu, Apr 16 Virtual Memory, Programming models, SMT, GPUs, accelerators, reliability. ppt ; pdf   78 ; 79 ; 80 ; 81 Homework 10
Tue, Apr 21 Review Session ppt ; pdf Comprehensive    
Fri, Apr 24, 10:30am - 12:30pm Final Exam   Comprehensive