Homework 1

I uploaded Homework 1 to Blackboard, under the assignments category. It has problems from Chapter 1 and Appendix B.

Instruction Set Architectures (ISA)

For next time, please read Appendix B, concentrating on Sections 2 - 6.

If you don't have much exposure to this topic, I recommend skimming Appendix J.2 (on the CD) to get a feel for the wide variety of ISAs. There's also some interesting historical info (for example, Figure J.35 shows the lineage of RISC processors).

Finally, if you are interested in history, I'd recommend Appendix K. Section 2 is a history of the very earliest machines, while Section 3 is about the development of ISAs.

Move to SN155

Sorry about the crowding today. Let's meet in SN155 beginning next class (which is next Wednesday).

Why are Wafers Round?

John Thomas found this good explanation of the process for manufacturing Silicon wafers.

http://www.processpecialties.com/siliconp.htm

A picture of the cylindrical boule is at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Monokristalines_Silizium_f%C3%BCr_die_Waferherstellung.jpg

Read Ch. 1 and Moore's Paper

Please read Ch. 1 of the textbook, and the paper by Gordon Moore that was the first exposition of what has become known as Moore's Law. See

http://download.intel.com/research/silicon/moorespaper.pdf

Classroom Change to SN006

We're moving, starting immediately (Monday, 1/14 class) to SN006 in order to let an undergrad class expand.

There is Class Next Monday

Sorry, I'd made a mistake. The MLK holiday is on the 21st (the
following Monday).

COMP740 News

I'll be posting items (assignments, reading, etc) as a blog so that you can subscribe to the feed. Hopefully this is more convenient than reading the class web page.