Midterm #1 review
ECE 429/629 Fall 2003
This midterm will be closed-book, closed-notes.
Midterm will consist of
• Short answer questions
• Computational questions on Amdahl’s Law, CPU performance equation (Iron
Law), SPEC, means (arithmetic, geometric, harmonic)
• Datapath / control logic questions on single-cycle datapath, multi-cycle datapath,
and MIPS instruction set
For the midterm, students should be able to
• outline some key developments in the history of computer architecture, including
the RISC architecture
• identify the key developers of the RISC architecture
• define and explain the difference between RISC and CISC architectures
• name the only CISC machine to survive the RISC vs. CISC debate, and why
• compute the execution time of a program on a machine, given the instruction mix
and the clock cycle time
• compute and compare the SPEC ratings of different machines
• compute the arithmetic and geometric means of execution times
• identify when to use arithmetic, geometric, and harmonic means
• identify the most reliable way of measuring machine performance, along with
listing the problems of using MIPS (millions of instructions per second)
• compute the overall speedup of a machine given the speedup of some portion
• list the components of a von Neumann computer
• build a logic gate from transistors
• build a simple ALU from logic gates
• list the values for control lines needed for different instructions, on both a single-
cycle and a multi-cycle MIPS (microprocessor without interlocked pipeline
stages) machine, given a diagram of the datapath
• describe the modifications necessary to implement new instructions, on both a
single-cycle and a multi-cycle MIPS machine, given a diagram of the datapath
• convert a C program to MIPS assembly and machine code, given a table of
machine codes
• specify whether an assembly instruction is I-type, R-type, or J-type
Sample short answer questions:
• Explain the difference b/w RISC and CISC. What do the acronyms stand for?
• When did the RISC vs. CISC debate take place? Name two prominent RISC
advocates.
• Name the only CISC computer to survive the debate. Why did it survive?
• List some differences between the 80x86 and MIPS computers.
• List the five components of a von Neumann computer.
