Study guide for the Computer Architecture Comprehensive Examination

To prepare for the Computer Architecture Comprehensive Exam, you should get a copy of:
Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 2nd Edition John Hennessy and David Patterson Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1996
ISBN: 1-55860-329-8

This book is widely available (the FIT library has a copy) and used copies can be purchased online for a few dollars. The same information may appear in newer editions of the book, but each edition rearranges the contents and the section numbers *will* be different.

The information below lists the sections (from the 2nd edition) which will be used to create exam questions. You may also need to read other sections for background (particularly Chapter 2). Note: you will *not* be expected to read or write in the DLX instruction pseudocode.

• Sections 3.1-3.6, and 3.10 - Pipelined Execution
• Sections 4.1-4.3, and 4.9 - Advanced Pipelining, Dynamic Scheduling and Branch Prediction
• Sections 5.1-5.7 - Main Memory, Cache and Virtual Memory
• Sections 6.1-6.6 - Storage Systems

If you look at the "Formulas" in the right side of the inside front cover of the book, you should memorize and know how to use formulas 1, 3, 7 and 8. You will not use the other formulas on this page.