CSE142: Computer Architecture: Software Perspective (2025 Summer Session 2)
In-person Lecture: MTuWTh 2:00p – 3:20p @ WLH 2204
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/profusagi
Discussion session: F 12p-1:50p @ WLH 2204
Instructor
Hung-Wei Tseng
email: htseng @ ucsd.edu
Office Hours: WTh 3:30p-4:30p @ CSE 2210
Online Office Hour: Th 9:30p-10:30p @ Zoom Office Hour Link (in Google Calendar)
Teaching Assistant & Tutors
Hongyuan Jia and Andrew Lu
email: cse142_su25 @ escalab.org
Office Hours: Please check the calendar
Other important links
Quizzes, Assignments: Gradescope
Discussion Forum on Piazza: https://piazza.com/class/md99z1w7qks3cb#
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/profusagi
Check grades: https://www.escalab.org/my_grades/
Course Overview
This course will describe the basics of modern processor operation. Topics include computer system performance, instruction set architectures, pipelining, branch prediction, memory-hierarchy design, and a brief introduction to multiprocessor architecture issues. This course is taught in tandem with CSE142L: Software Projects of Computer Architecture (2025 Summer Session II). Please be aware this is the last quarter CSE142L is offered. If this is required in your graduation criteria, you should consider take CSE142L.
Text books
Required:
- David Patterson and John Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design MIPS Edition: The Hardware/Software Interface (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design) 6th Edition
- Randal E. Bryant and David R. O’Hallaron, Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective, 3/E (CS:APP3e)
- Other assigned readings throughout the quarter.
Grading
- The final grading is determined by the average of the following criteria (each accounts for 33.33%).
- Assignments
- Assignments will be assigned throughout the course. We will drop your lowest one.
- You’re strongly encouraged to watch this video before you start
- Our assignments will be based on Jupyterhub/Jupyter notebooks — everyone is supposed to have a unique turnin. There is no group submission or collaboration allowed.
- There is no regrading on assignments except for obvious grading errors. Please make sure your answers are clearly comprehensible to our autograders and follow the guideline of answering assignment questions.
- Peer instruction/Participation
- This class uses “peer instruction” as our teaching method
- To encourage your participation in peer instructions, we count your participation in peer instructions throughout the summer session as one assignment.
- If you opt out from peer instructions, this one will become the one that is dropped from your assignments.
- To participate in peer instructions, we require each of you to download poll everywhere App or navigate/login to their website during the class if you would like to earn credits from participating in peer instructions.
- You must login with @ucsd.edu account. If you didn’t do it right, you won’t get credits.
- You need to answer 50% of the poll questions to receive full credits on peer instructions.
- Reading Quizzes
- We will have reading quizzes on GradeScope
- Only one shot, but time unlimited. We will drop your lowest two quizzes as well.
- Midterms & Final
- Midterms and Final weight equally the same in this category
- The final will be cumulative.
- Assignments
- Additional notes about grades in this course
- Your score will be available https://www.escalab.org/my_grades/. Your final grade is the weighted average of these grades.
We do our best to record grades accurately, but you should double-check. - Late submission: We do not accept any late submission, including quiz, assignments, projects.
- Errors in grading: If you feel there has been an error in how an assignment or test was graded, you have 3 days from when the assignment is return to bring it to our attention. You must submit (via email to the instructor and the appropriate TAs) a written description of the problem through gradescope. Neither I nor the TAs will discuss regrades without receiving a gradescope request from you about it first.
- For midterm and final: We do not regrade on a single problem. We will re-grade your whole test. The 3-day regrading window still applies.
- Final grades: If you have a problem with your final grade in the course, send me email and we can set up an appointment to discuss it.
- Your score will be available https://www.escalab.org/my_grades/. Your final grade is the weighted average of these grades.
Schedule and Slides
Assignments
Please watch https://youtu.be/7PTzdq3l4E4 before you start!
- Assignment #1
- Due 8/10/2025 midnight
- Assignment #2
- Due 8/17/2025 midnight
- Assignment #3
- Due 8/24/2025 Midnight
- Assignment #4
- Due 8/31/2025 Midnight
- Assignment #5
- Due 9/5/2025 Midnight
Integrity Policies
- Cheating WILL be taken seriously. Doing otherwise is not fair to honest students. It is also not fair to allow the cheater to think that it is a reasonable alternative in life.
- Please review the UCSD student handbook for more details on Academic Integrity.
- Anyone copying information or having information copied during a test will receive an F for the class and will not be allowed to drop. They will be reported to their college dean. If you can prove non-cooperative copying took place, your grade may be restored, but you must prove it to the dean–I don’t want to be involved. Anyone caught cheating or falsely representing the work of others on the homework will not be allowed to turn in further homework. Your grade will be based exclusively on the tests with a penalty of 25% OR GREATER applied.
- We photocopy a random sampling of the exams in order to ensure that students do not modify their tests after they have been returned.
- Online solutions, etc.: A solutions manual exists for this text. Using it, or any solutions you may find on the internet elsewhere IS CHEATING and will be dealt with accordingly. We know what the solution manual solutions look like. Homework is a small fraction of your grade, so cheating on it is unproductive.