Syllabus 2007/2008 EIT070

Syllabus academic year 2007/2008

COMPUTER ORGANIZATION

EIT070

Higher education credits: 6. Grading scale: TH. Level: G2 (First level). Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish. Compulsory for: C3, D2, E2, I2. Optional for: F2, Pi4. Course coordinator: Professor Jan Eric Larsson, janeric@it.lth.se, Inst f informationsteknologi. Recommended prerequisits: EDA011/EDA015 Programming, First course. Assessment: The examination is performed by four group assignments, four laboratory exercises, and a written test. Further information: The course is given two times a year. Home page: http://www.it.lth.se/dt.

Aim
The course aims at giving an introduction to how a computer systems works on the machine language and hardware level.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

Understand the function of a computer system and its parts
Understand the interconnection between hardware, machine language, and high-level language
Understand the real-time problem and how a computer system can communicate with the external world

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

Have skills and experience in programming on a machine language level
Be able to analyze simple designs of systems where computer systems are used as system components
Be able to analyze and evaluate different solutions for programming on a machine language level

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

Show an insight into possibilities and limitations of computer organization

Contents
The course gives an introduction to the basic function of a computer system on a machine language level. Among the topics are data representation, basic computer arithmetic, the components and functions of a computer system, basic machine language level programming techniques, and the hardware support needed for these, for example, different addressing modes, stack, subroutines, and interrupts. The laboratory exercises use a simple computer system, which allows investigation of program execution, debugging, and different types of communication with the external world. The group assignments treat a design and programming example, which serves as a preparation for the laboratory exercises.

Literature
Brorsson, M., Datorsystem: program- och maskinvara, Studentlitteratur 1999, or Patterson, D. A. and J. L. Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design The Hardware/Software Interface, Second edition, Morgan Kaufmann, 1998.
Laboratory exercise manual and copies of lecture slides are available from the course web page and can also be bought in the cellar of E-huset.
Home page: www.it.lth.se/dt