Basic Logistics
Term: Fall 2026
| Section | Lecture | Recitation |
|---|---|---|
|
A Pittsburgh 80 seats |
Lecture 1 TR, 12:30pm - 1:50pm (ET) SH-105 (in-person) |
F, 11:00am - 11:50am (ET) MM-103 (in-person) |
|
B Pittsburgh 80 seats |
Lecture 1 TR, 12:30pm - 1:50pm (ET) SH-105 (in-person) |
F, 2:00pm - 2:50pm (ET) BH-A51 (in-person) |
|
SV Silicon Valley 6 seats |
Lecture 2 TR, 9:30am - 10:50am (PT) B23-212 (in-person) |
F, 8:00am - 8:50am (PT) B23-211 (in-person) |
Course Links
- Canvas — Syllabus, lecture slides, recordings, and more
- Gradescope — Assignment submissions and grading
- Piazza — Course Q&A and announcements
- Full Syllabus — Full course policies are on Canvas. A subset of policies are on this course website.
Course Staff
Instructor: John Paul Shen · Office: CMU-SV, B23-114 · Office hours: Wed 6:00pm - 8:00pm ET (Zoom)
Instructor: Olivia Hsu · Office: CIC 4121 · Office hours: Tu/Th 2:00pm - 2:50pm ET (from SH to CIC)
Teaching Assistants
| Name | Sections | Office Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Liam Carden (Head TA) | — | Wed 11am-12pm ET in CIC 4120, Fri 3-4pm ET in BH 145 |
| Vishal Setty | — | Thu 5-7pm ET (Zoom) |
| Alfredo Barandearan | — | Mon 10:30-11:30am ET in HH 1303 |
| Petros Emmanouilidis | — | Wed 2-4pm ET in HH 1310 |
| Shreya Mukherjee | — | Mon 2-4pm ET in HH 1303 |
| Victor Zayakov | — | Mon 4-6pm ET in HH 1304 |
| Evan Williams | — | Wed 4-5pm ET in CIC 4117 |
Grading
| 35% | Lab Assignments |
| 25% | Midterm Exam #1 |
| 25% | Midterm Exam #2 |
| 9% | Class Participation |
| 6% | Homeworks |
| 100% | TOTAL |
Final letter grades are determined by the weighted total of lab assignments, exams, and quizzes/participation. Weekly multiple-choice quizzes (3–5 short questions) are due Friday before recitation and cover that week's two lectures.
Textbook
Required: Modern Processor Design: Fundamentals of Superscalar Processors, John Shen and Mikko Lipasti. Waveland Press, 2013 (originally 2005). ISBN 978-1-4786-0783-0.
Lab Assignments and Late Policy
You will work on Labs 1-4 in small teams of 3 students each. All lab assignments are due at 11:59pm ET on the specified due date (lab deliverables usually on a Monday). Please check Piazza, Gradescope, and the course website for exact lab due dates.
The penalty for late lab assignments is 10% per day. Each student will receive a total budget of three grace days for the entire course. Each grace day can be used to cover one day late without incurring the 10% penalty.
- Grace days are applied automatically until you run out. But, no more than two grace days can be used on any one lab assignment. Once you have spent all of your grace days, then you will receive a penalty of 10% for each subsequent late day.
- Late assignments will only be accepted up to two days after the specified due date, or the termination date, i.e., all late submissions must be submitted by the termination date and can only be late by at most two days.
Homework Assignments
Short weekly homeworks are due on Friday before recitation, covering the lecture concepts from previous weeks.
Homework serves to prepare students for exams, where the score will be based on completion. The homeworks will include feedback from course staff, which will emulate exam grading, for students to prepare and learn from before exams. Since homeworks are graded on completion there will be no late penalty on homework assignments, but timely course staff feedback is only guaranteed to on time submissions.
Students with Disabilities
If you have a disability and have an accommodations letter from the Disability Resources office, please discuss your accommodations and needs with the instructors as early in the semester as possible. We will work with you to ensure that accommodations are provided as appropriate. If you suspect that you may have a disability and would benefit from accommodations but are not yet registered with the Office of Disability Resources, please contact them at access@andrew.cmu.edu.