CMSC 411 Syllabus
Dr. Michelle Hugue
Summer, 2008 Edition
Reading the Book is Fundamental
Temporal and Spatial Attributes
Local View
M-F 11AM--12:20 CSIC 1115
July 14, 2008---August 22, 2008
Information View
Text: Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 4th Edition by
Hennessy and Patterson (3rd edition will NOT be acceptable)
Extra resources: Class Webpage--old projects, other peoples' lecture notes
Handouts
Lectures
Project Specification: TBD
Quantitative View
Cumulative Final Exam : 40-45% 11 AM--1 PM, August 21, 2008
1 Midterm Exam: 25-30% 8/1/2008
Best 3 quizzes out of 4 weekly quizzes : 20-25%
Project (Details TBD): 10-15%
Class Participation: up to 3%
Qualitative View
The SAME Content
The SAME Inherently Ambiguous Project Specification
The SAME Content-free Context-laden Lectures
The SAME Requirement that you READ the BOOKs
The SAME No-Double-Jeopardy Policies
The SAME Mandatory Newsgroup Monitoring
MORE annoyingly and deceptively simple/difficult problems
Weekly Reading Assignments and Problems, with solutions
Weekly Quizzes
One Nasty Midterm Exam
ONE Nasty, Cumulative Final
Important Dates
Quizzes
July 18
July 25
August 8
August 15
Midterm Exam
August 1
Final Exam
August 21 Cumulative Final Exam
    11AM - 1PM in CSIC 1115
Project Due Date: August 11
Hints for Success
Plan on spending at least twice as much time outside of
class as in-class, most of it reading.
If you don't like my books, pick others that cover the same material.
Take advantage of on-line resources, especially old projects and other
peoples' notes.
Read the newsgroup regularly and post ALL your project and homework queries
there.
Keeping up with the reading will make the lectures more relevant.
Don't expect to use ONLY Lecture notes to study--you MUST read.
Don't expect to use ONLY books to study--some lectures are unique.
Follow directions.
Web Accessibility