CMSC 311 Syllabus

Dr. Michelle Hugue
Spring, 2005 Edition

Reading the Book is Fundamental

Temporal and Spatial Attributes

Local View

  •  TuTh 3:30 PM -- 4:45 PM, CSIC 1122
  • January 26, 2004---May 10, 2004
  • Information View

  • Text: Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 3rd Edition by     Hennessy and Patterson (2nd 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%
  • 1  Midterm Exam:  25-30%
  • Best 3 quizzes out of 4 weekly quizzes : 20-25%
  • Project (Details TBD): 10-15%
  • Class Participation:  up to 5%
  •                     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

  • February 18
  • March 3
  • April 14
  • May 5
  • Midterm Exam

  • March 17
  • Final Exam

  • May 15 (Saturday) Cumulative Final Exam
        1:30 PM - 3:30 PM in CSIC 1122
  • Project Due Date:  April TBD

    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.
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