WCAE 2003 Workshop on Computer Architecture Education
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WCAE 2003 Proceedings of the Workshop on Computer Architecture Education in conjunction with The 30th International Symposium on Computer Architecture DQG 2003 Federated Computing Research Conference Town and Country Resort and Convention Center b San Diego, California June 8, 2003 Workshop on Computer Architecture Education Sunday, June 8, 2003 Session 1. Welcome and Keynote 8:45–10:00 8:45 Welcome Edward F. Gehringer, workshop organizer 8:50 Keynote address, “Teaching and teaching computer Architecture: Two very different topics (Some opinions about each),” Yale Patt, teacher, University of Texas at Austin 1 Break 10:00–10:30 Session 2. Teaching with New Architectures 10:30–11:20 10:30 “Intel Itanium floating-point architecture,” Marius Cornea, John Harrison, and Ping Tak Peter Tang, Intel Corp. ................................................................................................................................. 5 10:50 “DOP — A CPU core for teaching basics of computer architecture,” Miloš BeþváĜ, Alois Pluháþek and JiĜí DanƟþek, Czech Technical University in Prague ................................................................. 14 11:05 Discussion Break 11:20–11:30 Session 3. Class Projects 11:30–12:30 11:30 “Superscalar out-of-order demystified in four instructions,” James C. Hoe, Carnegie Mellon University ......................................................................................................................................... 22 11:50 “Bridging the gap between undergraduate and graduate experience in computer systems studies,” Lori Carter and Scott Rae, Point Loma Nazarene University ........................................................... 28 12:05 “Integration of computer security laboratories into computer architecture courses to enhance undergraduate curriculum,” Jayantha Herath and Ajantha Herath, St. Cloud State U. and U. of Dubuque ............................................................................................................................................ 36 12:20 Discussion Lunch 12:30–2:00 Session 4. Teaching Techniques 2:00–3:30 2:00 “Combining learning strategies in a first course in computer architecture,” Patricia Teller, Manuel Nieto, and Steve Roach, U. of Texas at El Paso ............................................................................... 41 2:25 “Building resources for teaching computer architecture through electronic peer review,” Edward F. Gehringer, North Carolina State University ................................................................................. 49 2:40 “Laboratory options for the computer science major," Christopher Vickery and Tamara Blain, Queens College of CUNY ................................................................................................................ 57 2:55 “Activating computer architecture with Classroom Presenter,” Beth Simon, U. of San Diego; and Richard Anderson and Steven Wolfman, U. of Washington ............................................................ 64 3:15 Discussion Break 3:30–4:00 Session 5. Simulation Environments 4:00–5:40 4:00 “The Liberty simulation environment as a pedagogical tool,” Jason Blome, Manish Vachhajarani, Neil Vachhajarani, and David I. August, Princeton University ........................................................ 72 4:25 “Multimedia components for the visualization of dynamic behavior in computer architectures,” Peter Marwedel and Brigit Sirocic, U. of Dortmund ........................................................................ 79 4:40 “Didactic architectures and simulator for network processor learning,” Henrique Cota de Freitas and Carlos Augusto P. S. Martins, Pontifical Catholic U. of Minas Gerais ...................................... 86 5:00 “On the introduction of reconfigurable hardware into computer architecture education,” Ross Brennan and Michael Manzke, Trinity College, Dublin ................................................................... 96 5:15 “Use of HDLs in teaching of computer hardware courses,” Zvonko Vranesic and Stephen Brown, U. of Toronto .................................................................................................................................. 103 5:30 Discussion Teaching and Teaching Computer Architecture: Two Very different topics (Some Opinions about each) Yale N. Patt teacher, The University of Texas at Austin Abstract Distance Learning produces better education, not cheaper education This year’s Computer Architecture Education work- We pay teachers enough that those who would opt shop is remarkable in its recognition that to teach com- for this career don’t opt for medical school instead puter architecture well, one has to pay attention to two things (a) teaching and (b) computer architecture. Hav- We teach high school English teachers enough En- ing been doing both for a good number of years, I har- glish that students at the University can write two bor a fair number of opinions on what one should do consecutive coherent sentences and what one should not do with respect to each. This We get past this insane preoccupation with political talk will get into some of those opinions. With respect correctness, so we can get on with the business of to teaching, I will discuss some of my Ten Command- teaching and learning ments of Good Teaching, what I think of distance learn- We stop canonizing the use of high tech education. ing, political correctness, emphasis on memorization, the Bad pedagogy is NOT good pedagogy if draped in inability of American students to write English, the value technology of having students study in groups, and what I feel is of- ten the sad misuse of technology. Most importantly, I We stop rewarding memorization ability, so maybe will discuss my motivated bottom up approach to learn- students will learn to think,...and perhaps under- ing. With respect to teaching computer architecture, I stand believe the single most important point to get across is that computer architecture, if it is a science at all, is a Figure 1. Visions (Re: Education) science of tradeoffs. The student is best served if he/she thoroughly understands the fundamental principles so as to be able to make the appropriate tradeoffs in reaching a particular design objective. I also plan to discuss the The remaining figures deal with the two parts of my use (and too often, misuse) of measurements, simulation, talk, a focus on teaching, and a focus on teaching com- and real ISAs as opposed to concocted ISAs. puter architecture. 1 Introduction I have been asked to provide copies of the transparen- 2 Focus on Teaching cies I will use in my Keynote Address. I have added Teaching involves at least three things: how to teach some annotated text to hopefully provide some context. (Section 2.1), what to teach (Section 2.2), and what aids Knowing from past experience that the dynamic to use in the process (Section 2.3). schedule of my talks usually bears only casual resem- blance to the static schedule that I prepared ahead of time, I provide these copies somewhat timidly. Figure 1 is from a talk I gave last fall at the annual 2.1 My Ten Commandments of Good Teaching Visions Lecture of the Computer Sciences Department Someone suggested I come up with a set of command- at The University of Texas at Austin. The subject was ments for good teaching. For historical reasons, they Education. I was asked to give my dream for an ideal thought ten would be a good number. So, I set out to future with respect to education. do it, and came up with nine. Ergo, note the tenth one. On sober reflection, that one in itself is a tenth command- 1 ment. So, the list on Figure 2 really does contain ten, not nine as some have commented. Know the material Want to teach Genuinely respect your students and show it Set the bar high; students will measure up Emphasize understanding; de-emphasize memo- rization Take responsibility for what is covered Don’t even try to cover the material Encourage interruptions; don’t be afraid to digress Don’t forget those three little words Reserved for future use Figure 2. My Ten Commandments of Good Teaching Figure 4. My motivated bottom-up ap- proach 2.2 Emphasis on the Fundamentals My emphasis on teaching the fundamentals has been ”Aha!” happens. How well someone can do that depends part of me forever. No doubt my PhD students get tired on how well that person has mastered the fundamentals. of hearing about it. For example, I believe that an ap- My views crystallized particularly strongly with the propriate PhD qualifier is not a written test on some ad- development of our ”new” introduction to computing, vanced course in the graduate curriculum, but rather an which we first developed at Michigan in the mid-90s[1] oral exam on the fundamental concepts found in relevant and later turned into a textbook, published by McGraw- senior level undergraduate courses. Hill[2]. My view of what is important is expressed in My view is simple: research, development, prob- Figure 3. More specific detail of the motivated bottom- lem solving are all about breaking problems down into up approach is shown in Figure 4. small pieces and working with the small pieces until the 2.3 High Tech in the Classroom Top-down design, Bottom-up learning for under- There seems to be a preoccupation with using tech- standing nology in the classroom. Certainly, there is much that can be done with technology to improve learning. I am Abstraction is vital, but... concerned that in our leap to technologize everything, we Not bottom-up, but ”motivated”