[2026 Fall] Computer Architecture

Course Information

Course Computer Architecture
Department Computer Science and Engineering
Office Hours TBA Course/Class No. 20493-01
Hours 3.0 Academic Credit 3.0
Professor Yoon, Myung Kuk
Office Asan Engineering Building, 337
Telephone (82)-2-3277-3819 E-Mail myungkuk.yoon at ewha.ac.kr
Value of Competence Pursuit of Knowledge(80), Creative Convergence(20)
Keyword CPU Design, Memory Design, System I/O
Class Time (Wed.) 15:30 ~ 16:45
(Fri.) 12:30 ~ 13:45
Teaching Assistant Youngseo Hwang TA E-Mail oasbunoh at gmail.com

Course Description

In this class, students will learn about the basic concepts of computer architecture, including Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), CPU processor design, and memory hierarchy. To improve understanding, students will do several programming assignments that are partially related to the computer architecture concepts.

Prerequisites

Students should meet the following requirements:

  1. A prior digital logic design course is recommended.
  2. Basic knowledge of the C/C++ programming language is required.

Course Format

Lecture Discussion/Presentation Experiment/Practicum Field Study Other
90% 0% 10% 0% 0%

Course Objectives

In this class, students will be introduced to:

  1. Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)
  2. Arithmetic (Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, etc.)
  3. CPU Processor Design (Pipeline, Instruction-Level Parallelism, etc.)
  4. Memory Hierarchy (Memory Technology, Cache, etc.)
  5. Parallel Processor Design (SISD, MIMD, SIMD, SPMD, and Vector)
  6. And more topics if time permits

Evaluation System

Evaluation: Relative + Absolute

Midterm Exam Final Exam Quizzes Presentations Projects Assignment Participation Other
60% 30% 0% 0% 0% 10% 0% 0%

Grade distribution:

  1. About 35% of students: A (Including A+/A/A-)
  2. About 45% of students: B (Including B+/B/B-)
  3. About 20% of students: C and below

Further details regarding letter grades and attendance:

  1. If your total score is above 20% but does not exceed 30%, you will receive a ā€œDā€ regardless of the percentage above.
  2. If your total score does not exceed 20%, you will receive an ā€œFā€ regardless of the percentage above.
  3. You may be absent up to five times. If you exceed five absences, you will receive an ā€œFā€ for the course. No excuses for absences will be accepted under any circumstances. Please note that the first two classes (the first week) will not be counted toward your absence total.
  4. If you are late twice, you are considered absent once.
  5. Complete your assignments and exams independently. Any instances of plagiarism, whether from fellow students or online sources, will result in an automatic 'F' in this course, regardless of your current standing.

Required Materials

  • Computer Organization and Design RISC-V Edition: The Hardware Software Interface

    • Author: David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy
    • Edition: Second (2E)
    • ISBN-13: 978-0128203316
    • ISBN-10: 0128203315

Supplementary Materials

NONE

Optional Additional Readings

NONE

Course Contents

Week Date Topics & Materials Etc.
#01 Sep. 2
(Wed.)		 CH #00: Introduction of Computer Architecture Class
Sep. 4
(Fri.)		 EXTRA: AI Hardware
#02 Sep. 9
(Wed.)
Sep. 11
(Fri.)		 CH #01: Computer Abstractions and Technology
#03 Sep. 16
(Wed.)
Sep. 18
(Fri.)		 EXTRA: Linux and Build System
#04 Sep. 23
(Wed.)		 CH #02: Instructions: Language of the Computer
Sep. 25
(Fri.)		 NO CLASS (Korean Thanksgiving Day)
#05 Sep. 30
(Wed.)		 CH #02: Instructions: Language of the Computer
Oct. 2
(Fri.)
#06 Oct. 7
(Wed.)		 Midterm Exam 1
Oct. 9
(Fri.)		 NO CLASS (Hangeul Day)
#07 Oct. 14
(Wed.)		 CH #02: Instructions: Language of the Computer
Oct. 16
(Fri.)
#08 Oct. 21
(Wed.)		 CH #03: Arithmetic for Computers
Oct. 23
(Fri.)		 CH #04: The RISC-V Processor
#09 Oct. 28
(Wed.)
Oct. 30
(Fri.)
#10 Nov. 4
(Wed.)		 NO CLASS
Nov. 6
(Fri.)		 CH #04: The RISC-V Processor
#11 Nov. 11
(Wed.)
Nov. 13
(Fri.)
Nov. 14
(Sat.)		 Midterm Exam 2 09:00AM ~ 10:15AM
(TBD)
#12 Nov. 18
(Wed.)		 CH #04: The RISC-V Processor
Nov. 20
(Fri.)		 CH #05: Large and Fast: Exploiting Memory Hierarchy
#13 Nov. 25
(Wed.)
Nov. 27
(Fri.)
#14 Dec. 2
(Wed.)
Dec. 4
(Fri.)		 CH #06: Parallel Processors from Client to Cloud
#15 Dec. 9
(Wed.)
Dec. 11
(Fri.)		 Class Summary
Dec. 12
(Sat.)		 FINAL EXAM 09:00AM ~ 10:15AM
(TBD)
#16 Dec. 16
(Wed.)		 Final Exam Review (Nonmandatory)
Dec. 18
(Fri.)		 NO CLASS