Computer Architecture

• Instructor: Jim Huang (黃敬群) <jserv.tw@gmail.com>
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/system.software2024/
• Policy
  • Follow the classes: CS 61C at UC Berkeley, CMU 18-447: Introduction to Computer Architecture
• Course grading
  • Quiz (30%), Homework (30%), Final/Term Project (40%)
• Schedule is tentative and subject to change!

Computer Architecture (Fall 2024)

• Week 1 (Sep 10): Introduction
  • Announcement
    • Despite September 17th being a national holiday for Mid-Autumn Festival, our class will continue as scheduled, and students are required to complete an online quiz. For information on how to participate and access the remote class, please refer to this website.
  • Course Introduction
  • David Patterson: A New Golden Age for Computer Architecture: History, Challenges and Opportunities / video
    • Article, note
  • David Patterson: From Mainframe CPUs to Neural-Network TPUs and Open RISC-V / video
  • Great Ideas in Computer Architecture / video
  • Number Representation / video
  • Understanding Floating Point Struggles / Floating Point (video)
  • C Memory Management / video
  • RISC-V Instructions
• Week 2 (Sep 17): Quiz
  • Announcement
    • The first assignment, consisting of RISC-V assembly programming, will be given next week.
  • Quiz1: C programming, bit-wise operations, number representation, floating-point / Solutions
• Week 3 (Sep 24): RISC-V
  • Announcement:
    • Quiz2 is scheduled on Oct 1: Due to the possibility that the classroom capacity may not accommodate the number of enrolled students, additional classrooms may be arranged as test venues. Please make sure to check this page on the evening of September 30th for related announcements.
      • 2023 Quiz2: RISC-V assembly and C programming / solution
      • 2022 Quiz2: RISC-V assembly and C programming / solution
      • 2021 Quiz2: RISC-V assembly and C programming / solution
    • Homework 1 is out.
    • Code Review for Homework 1 on Oct 8
  • Principles of this course
  • Intro to RISC-V / video
    • RISC-V Assembly Programmer’s Manual
    • The RISC-V Instruction Set Manual: Volume I: Unprivileged ISA
  • RISC-V Data Transfer / video
  • RISC-V Decision Making and Logical Operations / video
  • RISC-V Procedures / video
  • Lab0: Web-based Emulators
  • Lab1: RV32I Assembly
  • Assignment: Homework1: RISC-V Assembly and Instruction Pipeline (Due: Oct 14, 2024)
• Week 4 (Oct 1): Quiz + RISC-V
  • Announcement
    • Due to the impact of Typhoon Krathon, Quiz 2 will be conducted online instead of in-person. Please refresh this web page to obtain the latest information on how to participate in the online quiz and attend the course remotely.
    • Access the live-streamed course on YouTube. Watch the live stream carefully: Quiz 2 participation instructions will be provided during the broadcast.
  • Quiz2: RISC-V assembly and C programming / solution
  • Fixed-point Arithmetic
  • RISC-V Instruction Formats Part I / video
  • RISC-V Instruction Formats Part II / video
• Week 5 (Oct 8): Code Review + RISC-V Instruction Format + GNU Toolchain
  • Announcement
    • Homework2: RISC-V Toolchain is out.
  • Review: RISC-V Architecture Instruction Encoding
    • Revisit the RV32I specification and instruction encoding, as they serve as the foundation for implementing RISC-V processor cores in HDL.
    • The system instructions: ecall, ebreak, and csr*.
  • Code Review on Homework1: RISC-V Assembly and Instruction Pipeline
  • Lab2: RISC-V RV32I[MACF] emulator with ELF support
  • Assignment: Homework2: RISC-V Toolchain (Due: Oct 31)
  • CALL = Compiling, Assembling, Linking, and Loading / video
• Week 6 (Oct 15):
  • Announcement:
  • RISC-V Instruction Formats Part I / Part II / video
    • online tool for RISC-V Instruction Encoder/Decoder / source code
  • Further reading FPGA design for Software Engineers
• Week 7 (Oct 22): Digital Systems
  • Announcement:
    • Quiz 3 is scheduled for Oct 29 and will cover RISC-V assembly programming, software optimizations, instruction encoding, sequential logic, and combinational logic.
      • 2020-Quiz3 / solution
      • 2021-Quiz3 / solution
      • 2021-Quiz4 / solution
      • 2022-Quiz3 / solution
    • Code Review for Homework 2 is scheduled for Oct 29.
  • Binary marble adding machine / video
    • Yes, you can implement a few logic-like elements without electricity.
    • Logic gates are primarily implemented using diodes or transistors acting as electronic switches, but can also be constructed using vacuum tubes, electromagnetic relays (relay logic), fluidic logic, pneumatic logic, optics, molecules, or even mechanical elements. Now, most logic gates are made from MOSFETs (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors).
  • nand2tetris
  • Synchronous Digital Systems (SDS), Boolean Algebra / video
    • sequential logic is a type of logic circuit whose output depends on the present value of its input signals and on the sequence of past inputs, the input history.
  • State, Combinational Logic / video
• Week 8 (Oct 29): Quiz + Datapath and Control
  • Quiz3: RISC-V programming and instruction encoding + Digital systems / solution
  • RISC-V CPU Datapath / video
• Week 9 (Nov 5): Datapath and Control + Pipeline
  • video: Are Computers Still Getting Faster?
  • video: Circuits recap
  • Constructing Hardware in a Scala Embedded Language (Chisel) is an open-source hardware description language (HDL) used to describe digital electronics and circuits at the register-transfer level that facilitates advanced circuit generation and design reuse for both ASIC and FPGA digital logic designs.
    • slides
    • Finite impulse response (FIR)
    • Learn Chisel online!
      • Please run the cell blocks by either pressing SHIFT+ENTER on your keyboard
  • RISC-V CPU Datapath / video
    • slides
  • Single-Cycle CPU Control / video
    • slides
  • MIT 6.191 L15: Introduction to Pipelining, L16: Processor Pipelining
    • note
• Week 10 (Nov 12): Pipelined Processors
  • Announcement:
    • Homework3 is out.
    • Next week, we will continue reviewing all the assignments.
    • Quiz4 is scheduled next week.
      • 2020 Quiz4 / solution
      • 2021 Quiz5 / solution / annotated with Ripes
      • 2022 Quiz4 / solution / annotated
  • rv32emu development
    • commit c1b8db0 successfully resolved a known issue that was preventing Doom from launching.
    • However, Quake renders incorrectly. (#258)
  • 0 to ASIC
  • L16: Processor Pipelining, L17: Implementing Pipelining, L18: Implementing Pipelined Processors / note
  • RISC-V 5-Stage Pipeline / Hazards / video
  • Lab3: Construct a single-cycle CPU with Chisel
  • Assignment: Homework3: Single-cycle CPU in Chisel (Due: Dec 1, 2023)
• Week 11 (Nov 19): Quiz + Homework Review
  • Quiz4: RISC-V programming + datapath + control + pipelined processor / solution
  • Homework1, Homework2
  • Complex Pipelines, Out-of-Order Issue, Register Renaming
• Week 12 (Nov 26): Cache
  • Announcement
    • Quiz 5 is scheduled on Dec 10
      • 2022-Quiz5 / solution / annotated
      • 2021-Quiz6 / solution / with Ripes simulation
      • 2020-Quiz5 / solution
    • This semester, we will conduct 7 quizzes. Out of these, the best 4 will be selected for grading purposes.
    • The instructor will submit the grades on the school’s designated deadline (Jan 17, 2024) for grade registration. This means that students will have ample time to dedicate to the final project assigned in this course.
  • Caches: Direct-mapped, set-associative / video
  • Multi-level Caches, Cache Questions / video
  • Lab4: Cache
    • Requirements / Reference work
  • Recall: The golden age of ever-changing computer architecture
    • The next big tech war front: RISC-V
    • Computing on Andromeda: Chip Company Releases 13.5M Core Supercomputer
    • Designing in 2023: 10 Problems to Solve w/ Jim Keller - Tenstorrent 8-wide Ascalon RISC-V core.
• Week13 (Dec 3): Virtual Memory + Operating System + Vector Extension
  • Announcement:
    • Term projects will be listed on Dec 5. Term projects of 2022
  • Virtual Memory / UCB: Virtual Memory / video
  • Operating Systems / video
  • Freestanding RISC-V Programs
    • bare metal
  • RISC-V Vector extension
    • Introduction to the RISC-V Vector Extension
    • The RISC-V Vector ISA Tutorial
    • RISC-V “V” Vector Extension
• Week14 (Dec 10): Quiz + Synchronization
  • Announcement:
    • Check the listing of final/term projects and fill in your names.
  • Quiz5: pipelined processor + cache + virtual memory / solution
  • Virtual Memory / UCB: Virtual Memory / video
  • Apple Silicon Guide
  • Debunking CISC vs RISC code density
  • Synchronization
    • Please check your operating system textbook for such topic.
• Week15 (Dec 17): Operating System, Multithreading
  • Announcement:
    • Quiz6 is scheduled on Dec 24
      • 2022-Quiz6: pipelined processor + cache + virtual memory / solution
      • 2021-Quiz7 / solution
      • 2021-Quiz6 / solution
      • 2020-Quiz6 / solution
  • Synchronization
    • Please check your operating system textbook for such topic.
  • Multithreading Issues + Cache Coherency / video
    • Let’s skip OpenMP part
  • video: The Future of Operating Systems on RISC-V / transcript
  • Multithreaded Application Synchronization Part I / Part II
    • Taken from CSCI 463: Computer Architecture and Systems Organization
    • RISC-V AMOSWAP instruction
    • RISC-V spec references the word ‘hart’ - what does ‘hart’ mean?
• Week16 (Dec 24): Quiz + Memory Model, Synchronization, I/O
  • Quiz6 / solution
  • Memory Model / slides
  • Advanced topics on Synchronization - 1
  • Advanced topics on Synchronization - 2
  • I/O: Devices, Polling, Interrupts / video
    • Traps/Interrupts/Exceptions
    • Trap Handling in 5-Stage Pipeline
• Week17 (Dec 31): Modern Processors
  • Announcements
    • Due to the instructor’s significant involvement in a confidential project, there has been limited participation in this course. Consequently, the instructor proposes a modification to the course grading structure.
      • The new breakdown will be as follows: Quiz (30%), Homework (30%), Final/Term Project (25%), and an additional “Base” component (15%). This “Base” component ensures that each student’s starting score is at least 15%.
    • Quiz7 is scheduled on Jan 7, 2024
  • rv32emu introduces tier-1 JIT compiler to accelerate RISC-V simulation.
    • Execute make ENABLE_JIT=1 clean all and then run build/rv32emu build/smolnes.elf to play NES games.
  • listing of final/term projects
    • You must provide the materials and demonstrate to the lecturer before Jan 14, 2023.
    • Summarize what you did and send email to <jserv.tw@gmail.com>.
  • Modern Processor Architecture
    • Modern Microprocessors: A 90-Minute Guide!
  • Introduction to Dynamic Branch Prediction, Advanced Branch Prediction
• Week 18 (Jan 7): Modern Processors
  • Quiz7 / solution
  • Tournament Predictors and Branch Prediction Accuracy
  • Project: Analyze and improve srv32
  • Hardware Based Speculation
    • Speculative Processor Vulnerability
    • Spectre-BHB
  • Case study: SoomRV - simple superscalar out-of-order RISC-V core. It can execute up to 4 instructions per cycle and is able to boot Linux.
  • RISC vs. CISC by John Mashey, one of the founders of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) benchmarking group.
    • HackerNews