CS 152/252A Fall 2026
Instructor: Chris Fletcher / Lecture: TuTh, 5:00-6:30 PM, Lewis 100 [Zoom, Discussion Recordings]
Course Calendar
Tentative schedule; topics and dates may change.
| Wk. | Date | Lecture | Discussion | Homework | Lab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Thu Aug 27 | 1. Intro / Early Machines Slides / Recording |
Labs 0+1
(due Sun Sep 13) Lab 0 / Lab 1 | ||
| 2 |
Tue Sep 01 | 2. Microcoding Slides / Recording |
1. Microcoding Worksheet / Solutions / Video / Slides |
Homework 1
(due Sun Sep 13) Solutions |
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Thu Sep 03 | 3. Pipelining 1 Slides / Recording |
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| 3 |
Tue Sep 08 | 4. Pipelining 2 Slides / Recording |
2. Pipelining Worksheet / Solutions / Video / Slides |
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Thu Sep 10 | 5. Pipelining 2 (cont.) Recording |
Lab 2
(due Wed Sep 30) | |||
| 4 |
Tue Sep 15 | 6. Memory 1 Slides / Recording |
3. Exceptions + Memory Hierarchy Worksheet / Solutions / Video / Slides |
Homework 2
(due Sun Sep 27) Solutions |
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Thu Sep 17 | 7. Memory 2 Slides / Recording |
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| 5 |
Tue Sep 22 | 8. Memory 3 Slides / Recording |
4. Cache Exam Review Worksheet / Solutions / Video / Slides |
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Thu Sep 24 | 9. Virtual Memory ↔ Caches Slides / Recording |
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| 6 |
Tue Sep 29 | 10. Midterm 1 Review Session Slides / Recording |
5. Virtual Memory Worksheet / Solutions / Video / Slides |
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Thu Oct 01 | 11. OoO 1 Slides / Recording |
Homework 3
(due Fri Oct 16) |
Lab 3
(due Sat Oct 17) | ||
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Fri Oct 02 | MIDTERM 1 (8-10PM) |
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| 7 |
Tue Oct 06 | 12. OoO 2 Slides / Recording |
6. VIPT + OoO Execution Worksheet / Slides |
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Thu Oct 08 | 13. Branch Prediction 1 Slides |
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| 8 |
Tue Oct 13 | 14. Branch Prediction 2 (Apple Guest Lecture) | 7. PRF + Branch Prediction | Lab 4
(due Sun Oct 25) | |
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Thu Oct 15 | 15. Multithreading | ||||
| 9 |
Tue Oct 20 | 16. Cache Coherence | 8. Cache Coherency | Homework 4
(due Sun Nov 08) |
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|
Thu Oct 22 | QUIZ (in class) |
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| 10 |
Tue Oct 27 | 17. Synchronization | 9. Memory Consistency | Lab 5
(due Thu Nov 12) | |
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Thu Oct 29 | 18. Memory Consistency | ||||
| 11 |
Tue Nov 03 | 19. OoO Performance Engineering | 10. VLIW + Vector + Software Pipelining | ||
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Thu Nov 05 | 20. VLIW | ||||
| 12 |
Tue Nov 10 | 21. Vectors | Midterm 2 | ||
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Thu Nov 12 | 22. GPU | Homework 5
(due Wed Dec 02) |
Lab 6
(due Thu Dec 03) | ||
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Fri Nov 13 | MIDTERM 2 (7-9PM) |
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| 13 |
Tue Nov 17 | 23. Spatial Architectures and Trainium | 11. GPUs + Spatial Architectures | ||
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Thu Nov 19 | TBD |
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| 14 |
Tue Nov 24 | Thanksgiving — No Class |
Thanksgiving - No discussion | ||
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Thu Nov 26 | Thanksgiving — No Class |
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| 15 |
Tue Dec 01 | TBD |
TBD | ||
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Thu Dec 03 | 24. Security (Apple Guest Lecture) | ||||
| 16 |
Tue Dec 08 | RRR Week - No Class |
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Thu Dec 10 | RRR Week - No Class |
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| 17 |
Thu Dec 17 | FINAL EXAM (11:30AM-2:30PM) |