Aim
The organization of digital building blocks into a single (programmable) computing entity

· Archetypes of computers

· Memory organization

· Performance & metrics

· Multi-processor systems

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

- know how to quantify the potential performance of a computer/network

- have an overview of the architectural alternatives and technological restrictions to solve a computing problem.

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

· Be well-versed in system & network simulation

· Be experienced in architecture quantification

· Have an operational knowledge of architectures

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

Contents
The course introduces the foundations of low-level computer functioning. The course syllabus includes, among other things, the main parts of computer system and low-level programming techniques and the techniques of RISC-processors and pipelining, cache memory and virtual memory. The course also illuminates the alternative design principles of modern computer architectures in order to provide an understanding of their impact on performance. Quantitative methods to evaluate design principles for performance constitutes an important subject of the course. In corase overview the lectures treat:

· Performance

· ISA principles

· Pipelining

· Memory Systems

· Multi-processors

· Special Architectures

· Cases

Literature
Reference literature: Hennesy, J L, Pattersson, D A: Computer Architecture - A Quantitative Approach 4th edition, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc. 2006
or
Null, L, and Lobur, J: The essentials of computer organization and architecture 2nd edition, Jones & Bertlett 2006 ISBN 0-7637-3769-0.
Course notes. L. Spaanenburg: Principle of Computer Architecture. and Laboratory manuals.