Foundational Concepts

This lecture covers three major topics: The Big Picture (how this course fits in CSE), the Software-Hardware Interface (the Source-to-Execution Journey), and Performance (barriers and innovations).

• The view from 40,00 feet
• A journey through abstractions

• The software part and the O/S
• The hardware part and the architecture

• Performance terms
• Performance drivers

• Building Blocks
• The ISA

• The role of system software (compiler and O/S)
• The von Neumann Architecture
• The Fetch-Execute Cycle

• Latency versus Throughput and Speedup
• Size, Heat, and Speed
• Buffering, Caching, and Pipelining
• Moore's Law

The Big Picture

The Software-Hardware Interface

Performance

• Read Chapter 1 of our textbook
• Do the Drep Homework in the Calendar. Use the Discussion Group if you have questions or encounter problems.
• The von Neumann Architecture. Optional
• Ubiquitous Computing. Optional