Processors and Computer ArchitectureLaajuus (5 ECTS)

Objective

On completion of the course, the student understands the structure and key operating principle of a computer and is able to understand programs written in assembly language. The student understands how memory hierarchy and parallelism is exploited in modern computer to improve performance. He or she is familiar with modern processor architectures and their applications.

Content

• Instruction sets and computer arithmetic
• Processor data path and instruction level parallelism
• Memory hierarchy: basics of caches and virtual memory
• Interfacing IO devices
• Multicores and multiprocessors
• Different computer architectures and examples of their applications

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

The student understands the principle of operation of computers and is able to list the fundamental components of a computer and understands key concepts of connecting IO devices to a computer. The student is familiar with instruction set and architecture of one processor and is able to present its principle of operation. The student is familiar with methods to estimate performance of a computer system.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

The student understands the principle of operation of computers and is able to list the fundamental components of a computer and understands key concepts of connecting IO devices to a computer. The student is familiar with instruction set and architecture of one processor and is able to present its principle of operation. The student is familiar with methods to estimate performance of a computer system. The student is familiar with multiple computer architectures and is able to present a comparison of computer architectures. He/she is able to estimate the performance of a computer system.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

The student understands the principle of operation of computers and is able to list the fundamental components of a computer and understands key concepts of connecting IO devices to a computer. The student is familiar with instruction set and architecture of one processor and is able to present its principle of operation. The student is familiar with methods to estimate performance of a computer system. The student is familiar with multiple computer architectures and is able to present a comparison of computer architectures. He/she knows which types of applications the architectures are used for. He/she able to estimate suitability of a computer architecture to a given application and to justify his/her selection. He/she is able to estimate the performance of computer systems.

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

The student understands the principle of operation of computers and is able to list the fundamental components of a computer and understands key concepts of connecting IO devices to a computer. The student is familiar with instruction set and architecture of one processor and is able to present its principle of operation. The student is familiar with methods to estimate performance of a computer system.