Parallel Architectures (Level 11) (P00900)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : INF-P-PA

The aims of this course are twofold: (a) to investigate the various forms of parallelism found in uniprocessors and in multiprocessor and multicomputer systems; (b) to explore the issues which arise in these systems in terms of: (i) ensuring that programs are executed correctly by the hardware; (ii) maximising performance.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : For Informatics PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Prior attendance at an undergraduate course on computer architecture. For students who have not had this opportunity should study the background material provided on the course website.

? Prohibited combinations : Parallel Architectures (Level 10)

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Parallel and Distributed Computing, (School of Informatics, Schedule O)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
09/01/2007	09:00	09:50	Lecture Room 3218, JCMB	KB

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	09:00	09:50	KB
Lecture	Friday	09:00	09:50	KB

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

After completing the course succcessfully, students should be able to:
- Describe the various forms of parallelism found in modern computer systems and the techniques used (a) to ensure that programs are executed correctly by parallel hardware (b) to maximise performance.
- Assess the effectiveness of techniques used to enhance the performance of computer systems.
- Record observations of on-line experiments, present this information in a variety of formats and draw conclusions from it.
- Write a critical report on a specific parallel computing system