CS 473 Syllabus

• General Information, Office Hours, Etc.
• Grading Policies
  • A Note on Incompletes
• Unacceptable Behavior
• Disabilities

General Information

Instructor

J. Pfeiffer, SH 136, 646-1605, pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu

Office Hours

M	2:30	-	3:30
WF	12:30	-	1:30


and by appointment

Text

Patterson, D. and J. Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design: the Hardware/Software Interface, Second Edition, 1997

Prerequisites

at least C in CS 370 and CS 372

Objectives

To study high level aspects of computer design, architecture, and organization. The course will study architecture from the standpoint of examining virtual machines intended to support high level languages, and the underlying implementation of these virtual machines.

Topics

• Floating Point Arithmetic
• MIPS Instruction Set
• Performance
• Pipelining
• Memory Hierarchy
• Input/Output

Attendance

I do not take attendance, and your attendance in the course will not (directly) affect your grade. However, you are responsible for all material covered in class, and for turning in homework, whether you are present or not. Note that if the grading for this class has a ``class participation'' component, it's very hard to participate when you're not present.

Grading

Your course grade will be based on two equally-weighted components:
• Assignments
• Exams

Grade Assignment

You must turn in at least half of the homework and take both exams, or you will get an F. Beyond that, grades will be assigned on the following scale:

A:	81	-	100%
B:	61	-	80%
C:	41	-	60%
D:	0	-	40%

Note: this doesn't mean it's easy to get an A, it means my assignments, my exams and my grading are all rigorous

Late Homework and Makeup Exams

I will be accepting late homework under the following conditions:

1. If you will be unable to complete an assignment on time, send me e-mail in advance explaining the circumstances, and the desired extension. If, in my judgement, the circumstances are unavoidable and the extension is reasonable, I will grant the extension. I reserve the right to require documentation of the circumstances.
2. If, as a result of an emergency (such as a medical emergency), you are unable to turn in an assignment on time, let me know the circumstances as soon as possible. If, in my judgement, the circumstances were an unavoidable emergency, I will take the homework late. I reserve the right to require documentation of the circumstances.
3. Note: conflicts with homework in other classes, simply failing to complete an assignment on time, and oversleeping, are not reasons I will accept for late homework.

Automatic Withdrawals

I do not drop students for persistent absence nor persistent failure to turn in assignments. If you don't turn in the assignments or take the exams, and you don't withdraw from the course, you will fail.

Grading Standards

It's important to remember that, while I will supervise the TA and I will discuss the grading with him or her, I will not in general review in detail the grading of the problems (if I did, there wouldn't be any point in having TAs; I'd spend as much time looking over their shoulders as I would have grading). So, if in your opinion these standards are not being adhered to, you need to inform me of the situation as soon as possible.

1. If this class has a TA, the TA will grade the assignments and I will grade the exams.
2. Each question will be given a clearly stated maximum point value, on the original assignment or exam. Subparts of questions may or may not have such a maximum. The points don't have to add up to 100; your score will be converted to a percentage.
3. The assignments are equally weighted, not the points. If one assignment is graded on a total of ten points, and another is graded on a total of twenty points, then the points on the latter assignment are only worth half as much as the ones on the former.
4. Some questions lend themselves to having particular point values removed (ie -1, -5, etc) for particular mistakes, while for others it is more appropriate to simply assign an overall score based on the quality of an answer. In either case, there will be a note on your assignment stating why you didn't get full credit on every problem.

A Note on Incompletes

The University's policy on assigning Incompletes on classes is stated in the Bulletin as: ``Instructors may assign I grades only if the student is unable to complete the course due to circumstances beyond the student's control that develop after the last day to withdraw from the course. Examples of appropriate circumstances include doocumented illness, documented death or crisis in the student's immediate family, and similar circumstances. Job related circumstances are generally not appropriate grounds for assigning an I grade.'' I have discovered (somewhat to my chagrin) that I grades are reviewed by the Dean's Office, and that these standards are being enforced at that level whether I want to assign an I or not.

Unacceptable Behavior

Assignments (including programs) in this class are to be completed individually. Copying of assignments is plagiarism and will not be tolerated. You are responsible for maintaining the security of files under your account; in cases of plagiarism I will regard both parties as equally guilty.