Computer Systems Programming
ECE454, Fall 2025
University of Toronto
Instructors:
Ashvin Goel,
Ding Yuan
Lecture Material
The instructors will make lecture material available here as topics are covered in class. Lecture videos will not be recorded.
| Topic # | Topic and instructors slides | Additional material |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Introduction | |
| Introduction to the course | ||
| What is Performance | ||
| CPU Architectures | ||
| Profiling and Measurement | Code: Gprof Demo Code: Gcov Demo |
|
| 2. | Compiler and optimizing programs | |
| Compiler Optimizations | ||
| Program Optimizations | ||
| 3. | Memory hierarchy and performance | |
| Memory Hierarchy | ||
| Cache Optimizations | ||
| Virtual Memory and Prefetching | ||
| 4. | Dynamic memory | |
| Dynamic Memory | Code: Alignment Demo | |
| Modern Allocators | ||
| 5. | Threads and synchronization | |
| Threads and Synchronization | ||
| 6. | Parallel architectures | |
| Understanding Parallel Architectures | ||
| Memory Consistency | Code: Memory Order Demo | |
| Better Locking | Code: Atomic Instruction Demo | |
| Avoiding Locking | ||
| 7. | Final Exam | |
| Review |