1. Parallel & Distributed Computing Fall 2006
Comments About Final

2. Course Grading Comments
Approximate Weights for Course Grade
Homework %
Midterm Exam 30%
Final Exam %
Final must be given as specified in the Fall’06 Schedule of Classes
Exam is from 10:15-12:30 on Monday Dec 12.
Exam will be in same room as used for classes

3. Information to Study for Final
Class slides covering test material are very important
Slides contain some information not in text
Probably best to study these first
Assigned textbook reading material
Can use these to expand your understanding of each chapter
Homework assignments
Only homework since midterm test are the ASC and MPI programming assignments
Some ASC & MPI questions possible
For example, tracing code segments
References posted on our website may provide additional information about some topics above.

4. Primary Topics for Final
Chapters 3-7 in Quinn
Slides and textbook material
Material tested on Ch. 7 will only include material from slides 1-31 and corresponding textual material.
Includes Amdahl’s law but not Amdahl’s Effect
SIMD, Vector, & MIMD Architectures presentations by Walker
In past, Walker has created one question on this
Slides on ATC covered final two days
Ability to discuss topics covered
How ATC shows importance of SIMD

5. Primary Topics for Final (cont.)
Some classic parallel computing topics covered before midterm. For example,
Basic knowledge topics and basic terminology
Multicomputers, multiprocessors, UMA, NUMA, etc.
Flynn’s Taxonomy Classification
Data Parallel vs Control Parallel
Topics tested on midterm
You were supposed to study solutions to midterm questions after midterm was graded and returned.