CMSC 411

1. Performance Evaluation

• Measures of performance
• Benchmarks

2. Instruction Sets

• Instruction formats
• Addressing modes
• Zero, one, two & three operand instruction sets
• RISC vs. CISC

3. Machine Arithmetic

• Integer formats
• Integer addition & subtraction
• ALU design
• Integer multiplication & division
• Floating-point numbers (IEEE 754 standard)
• Floating-point arithmetic.

4. Processor Design

• Datapath design
• Instruction execution
• Instruction sequencing
• Hardwired vs. microcode control
• Exceptions
• Pipelining

5. Memory Hierarchy

• Cache design & evaluation
• Virtual memory & TLBs
• Performance evaluation of memory hierarchies.

6. Input/Output

• I/O devices
• Buses & accessing I/O devices
• Bus control
• Bus timing
• I/O performance

7. Parallel Processing (time permitting)

• Processor classification
• Vector processors
• Multiprocessors
• Interconnection networks

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