Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives The student is expected to understand the relationship between computer software and the organisation and architecture of the hardware with particular reference to memory hierarchy and floating point arithmetic. The student is also expected to learn to program in the C language and to develop a stored program computer using register transfer logic and programmable logic devices.
Synopsis Computer systems architecture including the integration of hardware and operating system. Instruction sets and formats; performance measurement; communication and synchronisation between modules; cache memory; floating-point arithmetic; an introduction to programming in the C language; a practical introduction to logic design applied to large-scale systems; register transfer logic; implementation using CMOS logic and programmable logic.
Assessment Examination (2 hours): 60% + Laboratory work: 40%