CSE 491: Software Performance Engineering

Term: Spring 2025
Instructor: Xuhao Chen
Lecture: 12:40-2:00 MW in 1225 Engineering
Lab: TBD
TAs: TBD, TBD

Welcome!

CSE 491 is new course focused on Software Performance Engineering (SPE), which provides a hands-on, project-based introduction to building scalable and high-performance software systems. We aim to convey both:

1. First-principles understanding:
   Why do modern processor architectures look the way they do?

2. Hands-on experience:
   How do we write fast code for these platforms in practice?

Why should I learn Software Performance Engineering (SPE)?

Announcements

• Homework 1 has been released! (Instructions)

• Homework 1 due Friday, January 13. (Gradescope)

• Project 1 has been released! (Instructions)

• Project 1 Checkpoint due Monday, January 16. (Gradescope)

• Project 1 Final due Saturday, January 21.

Site Map

• Calendar – Lecture, lab, and office hour schedule; assignment due dates.

• Labs – Descriptions and instructions for all lab assignments.

• Syllabus – Course policies, topics covered, general course information.

• Resources – Links to notes and external materials relevant to the course.

• Contact – How to get in touch with course staff.

• Piazza – Main hub for student discussion and staff communication.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to CS6120 at Cornell for providing the base CSS stylesheet on which this website is built.