15-418 Spring '04
Notes on Assignments and Exams

In the following, the term HOME418 refers to the home directory for the course, namely /afs/cs.cmu.edu/academic/class/15418-s04/public.

Exam 2

• Exam 2 will be held on Tuesday, April 6th, from 12:00pm-1:20pm.
• The exam will be closed-book, closed-notes. (In contrast to Exam 1, you will not be using a study sheet for this exam.)
• The exam will focus on the lecture materials that have been covered since Exam 1 (i.e. starting with lecture 18). This corresponds to the following chapters in the book:
  • Ch 6.1-7, Ch 5.5, Ch 7.9, Ch 8.8, Ch 7.1-8, Ch 11.1, Ch 11.6, Ch 10.1-10, Ch 11.7-9.
• It would be a good idea to bring a calculator to the exam.
• Here are some things that may help you study for the exam:
  • Here is a practice exam.
  • Here are some practice problems from the Culler, Singh, Gupta book:
    • 5.12, 5.13, 5.16, 5.18, 5.21, 6.12, 6.14, 6.18, 7.1, 7.7, 10.2, 10.5, 10.6, 11.1, 11.3, 11.15, 11.21, and 11.28.
  • We will be holding two review sessions prior to the exam (during the usual class time and place):
    • Tuesday, March 30: a quick review of the lecture material since the first exam
    • Thursday, April 1: a review of the practice exam and practice problems from the book

Exam 1

• Exam 1 will be held on Thursday, February 26th, from 12:00-1:20pm. (Note the new date.)
• The exam will be closed-book, closed-notes, but open "study sheet".
  • Study Sheet: you may hand-write notes on both sides of one 8.5"x11" sheet of paper. These notes must be handwritten by you personally: you may not produce them electronically (e.g., by photocopying, scanning, using word processors, etc.)
• The exam will cover all of the lecture materials that have been presented in Lectures 1-17 (i.e. up to and including Memory Consistency Models). This includes the notes that were handed out in class as well as the following chapters in the book (note that there have been a few changes relative to the original course syllabus):
  • Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4.1, Ch 4.3, Ch 5.1-5.4, Ch 8.1-8.2, Ch 9.1.
• Here are some exercises in the book that may help you study for the exam:
  • Ex 4.2, Ex 4.6, Ex 4.11, Ex 5.2, Ex 5.3, Ex 5.4, Ex 8.3, Ex 8.7, Ex 9.15, Ex 9.20, Ex 9.21.
  • NOTE: It is not necessary to complete all of these exercises to be ready for the exam, and unfortunately we will not be able to hand out solutions to them prior to the exam. However, feeling confident about answering these questions should help you feel confident going into the exam.
• It would be a good idea to bring a calculator to the exam. (No computers or wireless devices, however.)

Assignment 3 (ps, pdf)

• Issued on Thursday, Feb. 12; due on Tuesday, Mar. 3, 11:59AM. (Note that the deadline has been extended.)
• The files you need for this assignment can be found in the directory HOME495/asst/asst3.
• Input files can be found in HOME495/asst/asst3/input
• Here is a brief tutorial on using MPI: PDF, PS.
• Here are some instructions on submitting jobs on PSC machines (this information may be somewhat out of date): PDF, PS, Word DOC.
  • Here is a script for submitting PSC jobs: pbs_PGexample.sh

Assignment 2 (ps, pdf)

• Issued on Friday, Jan. 30; due on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 11:59AM. (Note that the deadline has been extended.)
• The files you need for this assignment can be found in the directory HOME495/asst/asst2.
• Input files can be found in HOME495/asst/asst2/input:
  • Start with smaller input files when you are debugging your code (e.g., dist4) before working your way up to 15 cities (distances).
  • The citylocations file shows the coordinates of the cities in 2D space, in case you are curious. (You do not need this information for your program.)
  • NOTE:The files in this directory were updated at 9:30pm on Thursday, February 5th, to provide a larger input data set.
    • The problem size now goes up to 16 (rather than 14 cities).
    • The old input files can be found in HOME495/asst/asst2/old_input. (Please don't use these: please use the new input files.)

Assignment 1 (ps, pdf)

• Issued on Tuesday, Jan. 20; due on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 11:59AM.
• The files you need for this assignment can be found in the directory HOME495/asst/asst1.
• Here are some useful links regarding OpenMP:
  • Our own handy OpenMP Tutorial: [ps, pdf]
  • NCSA online course on OpenMP
  • another concise OpenMP tutorial (from Lawrence Livermore)
  • OpenMP.org
• Here is some information about the NCSA machines:
  • IBM p690 hardware
• You may optionally run your programs on the PSC machines:
  • A (very) short introduction on how to use the machines (Rachel)
  • PSC HP AlphaServer

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